Effect of ACTH on rabbit adrenal microsomal 17 alpha-hydroxylase activity, cytochrome P-450 and protein electrophoretic patterns

To determine whether a change in microsomal proteins can be correlated with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-stimulation of rabbit adrenal 17 alpha-hydroxylase activity, rabbit adrenal microsomes were subjected to electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate. Microsomes were obtained from rabbits stimulated with ACTH for 0, 2, 4, and 6 days. A protein band with a molecular weight of 53,000 was found to increase 31.1, 27.2 and 61.0 percent in 2-, 4-, and 6-day ACTH-stimulated microsomes as compared to controls; but 17 alpha-hydroxylase activity showed no apparent correlation, increasing 5-6 fold in all experiments. No new protein bands were found after ACTH stimulation, and no other changes in microsomal protein electrophoretic patterns after ACTH stimulation were found to correlate with the increases in 17 alpha-hydroxylase activity. The specific activity (nmol/mg protein) of cytochrome P-450 remained nearly the same throughout the stimulation periods. Tetramethylbenzidine staining for heme prosthetic groups on the electrophoretic gels displayed bands with molecular weights of 61,000, 58,000 and 53,000.