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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1973 Oct;70(10):2741–2744. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.10.2741

Stimulation of Steroid Secretion in Adrenal Tumor Cells by Choleragen

J Wolff 1, R Temple 1, G Hope Cook 1
PMCID: PMC427099  PMID: 4355364

Abstract

Choleragen, the pure protein from cholera toxin, stimulates steroid secretion by Y-1 adrenal tumor cells in culture. The secreted steroids are the same as seen after addition of adrenocorticotropic hormone. Half-maximal stimulation occurs at 15 pM; stimulation is essentially irreversible by washing and partially reversible (for about 1 hr) by antibody, and there is a latent period of about 60 min before stimulation is seen. Stimulation of adenylate cyclase occurs at about 30-fold higher choleragen concentrations. Gangliosides inhibit choleragen stimulation when added before but not after the toxin. Lipopolysaccharides from Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhosa, and Serratia marcescens also stimulate steroid secretion, but are less potent than choleragen.

Keywords: cholera enterotoxin, adenylate cyclase, adrenocorticotropic hormone

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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