Indirect action of elevated potassium and neuropeptide Y on alpha MSH secretion from the pars intermedia of Xenopus laevis: a biochemical and morphological study.

A number of neurochemical messengers have been shown to act directly on the melanotrope cells of the pars intermedia of Xenopus laevis to regulate alpha MSH secretion. In the present study the possibility that the melanotropes are also indirectly controlled has been examined. For this purpose, the characteristics of alpha MSH release from superfused intact lobes, cultured lobe and isolated melanotropes were compared after treatment with elevated potassium. Isolated melanotropes responded with an increased secretion of alpha MSH, whereas intact lobes showed a profound inhibitory response, probably caused by potassium-induced release of inhibitory factors from nerve terminals. Cultured lobes displayed a biphasic response characterized by an initial activation followed by a strong inhibition; the stimulatory phase likely reflects a direct action of potassium on the melanotropes, before being overridden by an inhibitory mechanism. The inhibitory phase must originate from the action of nonneuroendocrine cells because the cultured lobes lack functionally active nerve terminals, as verified by immunocytochemistry and electron microscopy. The most likely candidates for this action are folliculo-stellate cells which are in intimate contact with the melanotropes and are innervated by neuropeptide Y-containing nerve terminals. Like elevated potassium, neuropeptide Y inhibited alpha MSH secretion from fresh and cultured lobes but not from isolated melanotropes. This indicates that NPY acts indirectly, in a nonpresynaptic way, to inhibit alpha MSH secretion.