In vitro labeling of hamster and gerbil adrenal cholesterol: effect of triamcinolone administration

The cholesterol concentrations of hamster adrenal glands are 0.32 ± 0.005% wet wt confirming their classification as cholesterol-poor adrenal glands. Hamster adrenal glands incubated in vitro with [3-14C]pyruvate in tracer quantities, incorporate significant amounts of 14C into adrenal cholesterol. Gerbil adrenal gland cholesterol concentrations are 4.2 ± 0.28% wet wt, less than 10% of which is unesterified. The typically cholesterol-rich gerbil adrenal glands do not form 14C-cholesterol when incubated in vitro with tracer quantities of [3-14C]pyruvate. When incubated for 6 hr with three changes of fresh solution containing high specific radioactivity [2-14C]acetate, gerbil adrenal glands form 14Clabeled unesterified cholesterol, but little or none of the labeled cholesterol is esterified. The administration of triamcinalone acetonide, 0.25 mg/100 g body wt/day for 6 days to both hamsters and gerbils, results in decreased in vitro oxidative metabolism and 14C-cholesterol formation by the adrenal glands of both laboratory animals.