An ACTH-Like Peptide Immunocortin: Effect on the Activity of Cells from the Rat Adrenal Cortex

The effect of immunocortin, an ACTH-like decapeptide VKKPGSSVKV corresponding to the 11–20 sequence of the variable part of the human IgG1 heavy chain on the content of 11-hydroxycorticosteroids (CS) in rat adrenal glands and blood serum in vivo was studied. An intramuscular injection of immunocortin at a dose of 10 g/kg was found in an hour to induce a twofold decrease in CS content in the adrenal glands and a 1.8-fold increase in the blood serum CS content. At the same time, an immunocortin dose of 100 g/kg exerted practically no effect on the CS content and its dose of 1000 g/kg increased the CS content both in adrenal glands and in blood serum by 1.6 and 2.2 times, respectively. Four hours after the injection of any of the three doses of immunocortin, the CS content in adrenal glands did not differ from the control value, and after 24 h the content decreased threefold. Immunocortin was shown to be bound by the ACTH receptors in the membranes of the rat adrenal cortex with a high affinity and specificity (inhibiting the specific binding of ¹²⁵I-labeled ACTH-(11–24) peptide with K _i of 1.2 nM).