Angiotensin II stimulation of the rat pituitary tumoral cell proliferation in vitro.

The effect of angiotensin II (AT II) on proliferation of rat pituitary tumoral cells was investigated in vitro. The tumoral cells were isolated from the prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors induced by stilboestrol implantation. The incorporation of 3H]-thymidine into DNA was used as an index of cell proliferation. It was found that AT II significantly enhanced the 3H]-thymidine incorporation into pituitary tumoral cells in the concentrations of 10(-10) and 10(-8) M. The stimulatory effect disappeared at the concentration of 10(-6) M. The possible involvement of pituitary renin-angiotensin system in pituitary tumorigenesis was discussed.