The pars intermedia and the fetal pituitary-adrenal axis

The increased production of cortisol by the fetal adrenal gland at term acts as the trigger for parturition in some species. The fetal pituitary controls fetal adrenal function. However, ACTH is only one of a family of closely related peptides which derive from a common precursor and we have shown that although ACTH is the dominant form in the adult pituitary, the expression of the "family trees' is altered in the fetus. In the sheep, it is large-molecular-weight precursors and, in the primate, the smaller peptides such as alpha-MSH, CLIP, beta-MSH and beta-endorphin that predominate in fetal life and which may be responsible for fetal adrenal function. It is still unclear what causes the developmental change in the ACTH "family tree'. Since it may result from a change in pituitary function - from the peptides of the pars intermedia, in the fetus, to those of pars anterior, in the adult - we have studied these two lobes separately in pituitaries taken from adult and fetal sheep and monkeys. Our preliminary results suggest that the change may occur in the neurointermediate lobe in the primate, but that in the sheep the developmental changes occur in the anterior lobe.