Effect of Adrenocorticotropin Administration on the Biosynthesis of Corticosteroid-Binding Globulin in Fetal Sheep*

Parturition in sheep is initiated by the fetus through activation of the fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and is associated with increased concentrations of ACTH, cortisol, and corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) in the fetal circulation during the final 10-15 days of pregnancy. Premature parturition and a precocious elevation in fetal plasma CBG are produced by intrafetal ACTH administration, but the possible sources of CBG in the ovine fetus are not known. To determine these sites, CBG mRNA was measured in tissues from fetal sheep in late pregnancy and after intrafetal ACTH treatment, using a sheep CBG cDNA. Fetal ACTH treatment caused a significant increase in the fetal plasma corticosteroid-binding capacity (CBC), although there was no significant difference in CBC between umbilical arterial and umbilical venous plasma. After ACTH treatment, CBC was elevated in fetal liver and kidney. Cortisol binding in these tissues had characteristics similar to those of cortisol binding in fetal sheep plasma. By Northern blot analysis a single mRNA (1.7 kilobases) for CBG was detected in fetal liver, kidney, lung, and adrenal, but not in placenta. The abundance of CBG mRNA in the fetal liver was greater than that in other tissues, but was unchanged by ACTH treatment. The level of CBG mRNA in the fetal kidney, but not in other tissues, increased 3-fold after ACTH. We conclude that the elevation in plasma CBC after intrafetal ACTH, and presumably also at term pregnancy, does not reflect production of CBC by the placenta or transfer from the mother. Rather, it results from production primarily in the fetal liver and kidney, although only in the latter tissue is CBG mRNA accumulation increased by intrafetal ACTH treatment.