In vitro studies of parathyroid hormone release: effect of cimetidine

We studied parathyroid hormone (PTH) release from cell suspensions of fresh and cryopreserved human parathyroid tissue. A sensitive PTH assay with midregion specificity and adaptation of "micro" methods of cell plating permitted conservation of tissue (200 microliters aliquots) and high reproducibility (5 to 10 aliquots per experimental condition). Viability of cells in suspension was confirmed by increased PTH release with increased incubation, increased incorporation of tritiated leucine with increased incubation, and incorporation of tritiated leucine following experimental incubation. Because of conflicting reports regarding the in vivo effect of cimetidine on PTH release, we incubated cells from both adenomatous and hyperplastic glands at 0, 10(-4)M, 10(-5)M, and 10(-6)M cimetidine (10(-5)M is therapeutic) and at 0.25, 1 to 1.2, and 2 mM Ca++. Despite occasional statistically significant (P = 0.05) differences in PTH release with and without cimetidine, therapeutic levels of cimetidine had no consistent effect on PTH release from pathologic parathyroid tissue in vitro.