ESMA R. ISENOVIĆ¹, MARIJA RADOJČIĆ², ZORICA ŽAKULA², G. KORIĆANAC², and NEVENA-RIBARAC-STEPIĆ²

1Department of Radiobiology and Molecular Genetics and

2Department for Molecular Biology and Endocrinology, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, 11307 Vinča, Serbia

Abstract – In order to improve current clinical treatment of human hypocortisolism, it is necessary to understand molecular aspects of this pathophysiology. In this study liver tissues from male Wistar rats were used as an experimental model to study structural and functional properties of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in the absence of glucocorticoid hormones (GC). Results show that acute adrenalectomy (ADX) significantly increases the number of GR binding sites and GR protein content. In addition, acute ADX stimulates increase in stability of the GR, decrease in stability of the glucocorticoid- receptor complex (G-R), and changes in accumulation of the G-R complex in nuclei and its cellular distribution.