1. Intracellular K+ content, water spaces and corticosterone output were measured in isolated zona glomerulosa and zona fasciculata-reticularis cell suspensions of rat adrenal cortex, after incubations in vitro under conditions designed to alter steroidogenesis.
2. Intracellular K+ of unpurified zona glomerulosa cells was not altered after stimulation of corticosterone output with serotonin. Similarly, with zona glomerulosa cells purified by unit gravity sedimentation, no change in intracellular K+ was detected after stimulation of steroidogenesis with serotonin or angiotensin II.
3. In high-potassium medium (final concentration 84 mmol/l), parallel increases in intracellular K+ and corticosterone output were observed with both unpurified and purified zona glomerulosa cells. However, a similar increase in intracellular K+ also occurred in high-potassium medium with zona fasciculata cells, whose steroid output is unresponsive to external potassium concentration ([K+]).
4. Ouabain at 10−5 mol/l depressed the intracellular [K+] of glomerulosa cells but did not alter basal or stimulated corticosterone output. Similar results were obtained with fasciculata cells.
5. Ouabain at 5×10−4 mol/l further depressed intracellular [K+] of glomerulosa cells and inhibited basal and stimulated corticosterone output. However, this concentration of ouabain also inhibited steroidogenesis in fasciculata cells.
6. These results demonstrate a variety of situations where changes in intracellular [K+] are dissociated from those in corticosterone output and indicate that intracellular [K+] cannot be the sole mechanism regulating steroidogenesis under these conditions.
