A human adrenocortical adenoma in tissue culture. Morphology and hormone secretion

A human adrenocortical adenoma was cultivated in vitro and the morphological characteristics, steroidogenic activity and response to ACTH of the cultured cells were studied over a period of about two months. At first, the morphology of the cultures was similar to that of the original tissue. This structure changed in the course of time and the cells underwent fibroblastoid transformation. Stimulation with ACTH evoked two types of morphological response: a) a short-term response, whereby an extensive but rapidly reversible vacuolization was followed by cell enlargement and granulation, and b) a long-term effect in which the differentiated cell morphology was maintained. The cultures showed a low steroidogenic activity throughout the experiment. ACTH stimulation increased the total 17-hydroxysteroid production up to 10-fold. After ACTH withdrawal the corticosteroid levels declined slowly and about 50% of the maximal activity persisted on the fifth day after ACTH withdrawal.