The distribution and properties of the glucocorticoid receptor from rat brain and pituitary

The distribution and properties of cytoplasmic binding sites for the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone and the natural glucocorticoid corticosterone in the brain and the pituitary were studied in detail. Cortisol-17 beta acid, a derivative which does not bind to the glucocorticoid receptor but is a competitor of corticosterone binding to plasma, was used to overcome plasma interference. In vitro competition assays in the presence of excess cortisol acid reveal that dexamethasone is as effective a competitor for [3H]corticosterone binding as corticosterone itself. Scatchard analysis of equilibrium experiments with both steroids, using cytosol from various brain areas and from the pituitary yielded linear plots, suggesting one class of binding sites. The quantitative distribution of the sites follows the pattern: cortex greater than hippocampus greater than or equal to pituitary greater than hypothalamus greater than brain stem white matter. Furthermore, kinetic analysis of corticosterone dissociation showed a first order reaction, thus indicating the presence of one type of receptor in all brain areas examined. Rat brain cytosolic receptors for corticosterone and dexamethasone elute from DEAE-Sephadex A-50 anion exchange columns at 0.3 M NaCl in the presence of stabilizing sodium molybdate and at 0.15 M NaCl and/or in the buffer wash when heat-activated, thus exhibiting the characteristic activation pattern of rat liver cytosolic glucocorticoid receptor. The ratio of the buffer wash to the 0.15 M NaCl form is low for dexamethasone and very high for corticosterone. Receptor complexes from various brain parts showed the same activation pattern. In our experiments, brain corticosterone and dexamethasone receptors stabilized by sodium molybdate are indistinguishable by a number of techniques, thus indicating that it is unnecessary to evoke specific binding sites for each glucocorticoid.