In vivo and in vitro characterization of antalarmin, a nonpeptide corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) receptor antagonist: suppression of pituitary ACTH release and peripheral inflammation.

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) secreted from the hypothalamus is the major regulator of pituitary ACTH release and consequent glucocorticoid secretion. CRH secreted in the periphery also acts as a proinflammatory modulator. CRH receptors (CRH-R1, R2alpha, R2beta) exhibit a specific tissue distribution. Antalarmin, a novel pyrrolopyrimidine compound, displaced 12SI-oCRH binding in rat pituitary, frontal cortex and cerebellum, but not heart, consistent with antagonism at the CRHR1 receptor. In vivo antalarmnin (20 mg/kg body wt.) significantly inhibited CRH-stimulated ACTH release and carageenin-induced subcutaneous inflammation in rats. Antalarmin, or its analogs, hold therapeutic promise in disorders with putative CRH hypersecretion, such as melancholic depression and inflammatory disorders.

Effect of swimming exercise and ethanol on rat liver P450-dependent monooxygenases.

The interactive effects of 6 wk of repeated swimming exercise and chronic ethanol consumption (36% of total calories) on the hepatic cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase system were studied utilizing four groups of male rats in a 2 x 2 factorial design. The sedentary-control (S/C), sedentary-ethanol (S/E), and swim-control (SW/C) groups received the same amount of food that the swim-ethanol (SW/E) group consumed. The swimming groups were trained to swim for 2 h.d-1, 5 d.wk-1. Significant main effects due to ethanol (P < 0.002) and exercise (P < 0.02) were observed for the enhanced cytochrome P450 content and cytochrome P450 reductase activity, respectively. In addition, significant main effects for ethanol (P < 0.001), exercise (P < 0.0001), and significant interaction effects (P < 0.005) on aniline p-hydroxylase activity and significant main effects for ethanol (P < 0.01), exercise (P < 0.01), and interaction effects (P < 0.04) on 7-ethoxycoumarin o-deethylase activity were observed. Because the SW/C treatment had no effect on any of the measured cytochrome P450 activities and the SW/E treatment enhanced P450 activities much more than the S/E treatment, the main effects observed for exercise are accounted for by the alterations produced by combining swimming with the ethanol treatment. Based on these results, repeated exercise combined with ethanol consumption produces a synergistic increase in ethanol-inducible cytochrome P450-dependent activities.

Urocortin and inflammation: confounding effects of hypotension on measures of inflammation.

Urocortin, a newly isolated 40-amino-acid mammalian peptide homologous to corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), activates both CRH type 1 and 2 receptors, but may be an endogenous ligand for CRH receptor type 2. Urocortin given systemically inhibited heat-induced paw edema in the rat, and was therefore ascribed anti-inflammatory properties. We examined the effects of urocortin in the carrageenin-induced subcutaneous inflammation model. Rats were treated with urocortin 200 (n = 6) or 20 nmol/kg (n = 6); inflammatory exudates were reduced by approximately 30% compared to controls (n = 7) at both doses. However, since subcutaneous urocortin has been shown to reduce arterial blood pressure, we tested the hypothesis that its antiedema and antiextravasatory effects were secondary to arterial hypotension. Therefore, we examined the parallel effects of urocortin- and hydralazine-induced hypotension on acute inflammation induced by carrageenin in the rat. Rats were treated with subcutaneous carrageenin and control injections (n = 8), carrageenin and urocortin (20 nmol/kg, n = 9), or carrageenin and intraperitoneal hydralazine (10 mg/kg, n = 8). Mean arterial blood pressure was measured hourly for 7 h in 12 animals, and after 2 h, the nadir of treatment, in a further 13 animals. Rats were then sacrificed, and the inflammatory exudate volume and leukocyte count were measured. Mean exudate volumes were reduced from 4.8 +/- 0.5 ml (controls) to 2.4 +/- 0.3 ml (p = 0.004) and 2.9 +/- 0.6 ml (p = 0.007) in urocortin- and hydralazine-treated animals, respectively. Urocortin and hydralazine both produced a significant fall in blood pressure compared to controls, with mean arterial pressure 2 h after carrageenin injection falling to 51.0 +/- 4.1 (p < 0.001) and 34.6 +/- 4.6 (p < 0.001) vs. 92.9 +/- 3.7 mm Hg in controls, respectively. A significant positive correlation was noted between blood pressure and inflammatory exudate volume (r = 0. 52, p = 0.007). As both hydralazine and urocortin lowered blood pressure and inflammatory exudate volume, we suggest that the anti-inflammatory effects of urocortin and related neuropeptides may be nonspecific, acting through hypotension rather than through direct anti-inflammatory mechanisms. The use of inflammatory models which rely on extravasation may be inappropriate for the study of substances that produce hypotension.