In vitro secretion of peptide hormones by the human placenta: I. ACTH

In order to address the question of autonomy of placental hormone secretion, fresh human term placentae were utilized for the preparation of small tissue fragments. The fragment pool was divided over four parallel chambers in a superfusion apparatus and could thus serve as both control and experiment under identical in vitro conditions. Oxygen consumption was substantial and could be maintained for at least 5 h. Adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) concentrations in the effluent buffer were estimated by radioimmunoassay and bioassay. Both non-specific (membrane depolarization with 45 mM KCl) and specific (isoproterenol at 10(-7) M) stimulation increased the ACTH secretion from 10 to 20 pg/min/g to 60 to 80 pg/min/g. Propranolol blocked the adrenergic stimulation almost completely, indicating the specificity of the effect. Thus, in terms of in vitro ACTH secretion, the human placenta can be stimulated and therefore does not seem to behave in an autonomous manner.