CONTROL OF CORTICOTROPHIN RELEASE: FURTHER STUDIES WITH IN VITRO METHODS1

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Abstract
THE existence of a neuro-humoral mediator of hypothalamic origin, involved in the activation of the anterior lobe of the pituitary for the release of corticotrophin (ACTH) has long been postulated. This has been based on the anatomical study of the vascular and nervous connections between hypothalamus and adenohypophysis (1, 2, 3, 4) and on a highly suggestive series of experiments where pituitary-adrenocortical function was assessed after electric stimulation (5, 6, 7), stereotaxic destruction of various regions of the hypothalamus (5, 6, 7, 8, 9), or after severance of the normal connections between diencephalon and pituitary (3, 5, 10). The recent demonstration of ACTH-releasing activity in blood originating primarily from the hypothalamo-pituitary portal vessels (11) and the results of in vitro techniques using tissue cultures (12), organ cultures (13, 14) or short term incubation (15) of the adenohypophysis with living tissues (12, 13, 15) or homogenates (13) of the hypothalamus have contributed additional data in accordance with this concept.