Accumulation of amylase by chick pancreas in organ culture. Effect of hydrocortisone

Accumulation of amylase by pancreas explants from chick embryos of 7 to 14 days of development was studied in organ culture. The explants produced amylase but there was no increase in their total DNA and little if any increase in their total protein. Most of the amylase in the cultures was released into the culture medium. The lower the developmental age at which the pancreas was taken, the greater was the relative increase of amylase activity in the culture. After several days of culture the accumulation of amylase slowed or stopped. Hydrocortisone markedly increased the amount of amylase produced by the explants. The hormone had little or no effect on the initial rate of accumulation of amylase by the explants. However, addition of hydrocortisone to the culture resulted in a continuing increase of amylase activity when accumulation of the enzyme had ceased in the controls without added hormone. The observations support the hypothesis, suggested earlier, that corticosteroid hormones are implicated in the later stages of differentiation of the embryonic chick pancreas.