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Fall in Liver DNA Polymerase Activity in Cortisone-treated Rats

Abstract

THE physiological properties of glucocorticoid hormones include inhibitory effects on growth and cell division both in intact animals and in tissue culture: administration of these compounds stops net DNA synthesis in the livers of growing rats1, inhibits mitosis in various cells in tissue culture2–4, and reduces the burst of DNA synthesis which ordinarily follows partial hepatectomy5,6. Administration of glucocorticoid hormones is well known to inhibit DNA synthesis in a number of systems, but the mechanisms by which this might occur remain obscure. While Guzek has shown that the administration of cortisone or ACTH to partially hepatectomized rats quickly inhibits incorporation of radioactive thymidine into liver DNA in vivo7, attempts to demonstrate a direct effect of glucocorticoid hormones on DNA polymerase activity in vitro have been unsuccessful8. The possibility exists, however, that the administration of these hormones in vivo may result in significant changes in enzyme activity, and because of the good correlation between mitotic activity and DNA polymerase activity of liver in a number of different conditions9–13, we thought it of interest to examine the effects of glucocorticoid administration on the DNA polymerase activity of rat liver. We shall show that the administration of cortisone to young rats rapidly decreases liver DNA polymerase activity. This decline can be demonstrated within a day of the onset of treatment and can be observed at considerably lower doses of hormone than have generally been used in other studies on rat liver.

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HENDERSON, I., LOEB, J. Fall in Liver DNA Polymerase Activity in Cortisone-treated Rats. Nature 228, 556–557 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/228556a0

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