Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Although C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) has been shown to exist at the highest concentration in the anterior pituitary in rat tissues, its physiological role(s) there is (are) not clear. In this study, we report a novel function of CNP examined with anterior pituitary-derived cell lines, GH3 and AtT20/D16v-F2. Both CNP and atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) increased cellular cGMP levels in both cell lines in dose-dependent manners. CNP, but not ANP, stimulated growth hormone (GH) release from GH3 cells. In contrast, neither ANP nor CNP had any significant effect on the corticotropin release from AtT20/D16v-F2 cells. An activator for cGMP-dependent protein kinase (cGK), dibutyryl cGMP, mimicked the stimulation of GH release from GH3 cells by CNP. Constitutive GH release from GH3 cells was greatly diminished in the presence of inhibitors for cAMP-dependent protein kinase, while stimulative GH release by CNP was not affected. However, inhibitors which can block cGK almost completely diminished the stimulative effect of CNP. An inhibitor for protein kinase C did not show any effect on either constitutive or CNP-stimulative GH release. Our observations indicate that the stimulation of GH release from GH3 cells by CNP is mediated mainly by the cGK signal-transduction pathway, not by cAMP-dependent protein kinase or protein kinase C, through a CNP-specific receptor (possibly ANP-B receptor). Thus, CNP may act as a local modulator in the anterior pituitary.
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PMID:C-type natriuretic peptide stimulates secretion of growth hormone from rat-pituitary-derived GH3 cells via a cyclic-GMP-mediated pathway. 802 May 2

In contraction studies corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) was found to relax ileal but not gastric and jejunal smooth muscles of the guinea-pig, precontracted with BaCl2. Under whole-cell patch-clamp conditions, CRH concentration-dependently activated Ca2+-sensitive K+ currents (IK) with ED50=20 pM at 100 nM and ED50=0. 13 pM at 500 nM intracellular Ca2+ respectively. This increase was accompanied by significant hyperpolarization of the cell membranes. CRH 9-41 peptide fragment did not affect IK amplitude, membrane potential or contraction. The CRH-induced increase of IK densities was accelerated in the presence of high intracellular Ca2+ concentrations (500 nM) and was abolished by pretreatment of cells with either ryanodine or thapsigargin, which cause depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores, as well as in cells treated under conditions prohibiting intracellular Ca2+ store refilling. The effect of CRH on IK was not affected by bath application of various selective inhibitors of membrane-bound phospholipases, protein kinase C, cGMP-dependent protein kinase or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, but was effectively antagonized by blockers of protein kinase A (PKA) or adenylyl cyclase. Neither forskolin nor the catalytic subunit of PKA could mimic the effect of CRH on IK. Thus, it was suggested that CRH exerts its relaxing activity on ileal smooth muscle cells via PKA-dependent phosphorylation of some intracellular target coupled to sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ storage machinery.
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PMID:Corticotropin-releasing hormone acts on guinea pig ileal smooth muscle via protein kinase A. 1037 Jan 7

The effect of urocortin (Uro), a recently discovered neuropeptide with selectivity towards corticotropin-releasing hormone type 2 receptor, was tested on whole cell currents expressed by guinea-pig gastric antrum smooth muscle cells. Uro (1 pmol/l-1 nmol/l) caused a concentration-dependent increase of Ca2+-sensitive K currents (I(K)) up to 500% as compared to control currents and did not affect the kinetics and voltage-dependence of inward Ca2+ currents. The I(K)-increasing effect of Uro was fully antagonized by preliminary emptying of intracellular Ca2+ stores with ryanodine and cyclopiazonic acid, as well as by bath application of selective blockers of adenylyl cyclase and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA), but not by inhibitors of guanylyl cyclase, cGMP-dependent protein kinase, and protein kinase C. Comparable I(K) increase was obtained by forskolin (activator of adenylyl cyclase), Sp-cAMPS (activator of PKA), or by intracellular application of the catalytic subunit of PKA. It was concluded that Uro binds to a selective receptor in antral smooth muscle cells where it stimulates I(K) via PKA-dependent increase of Ca2+ concentration near the plasma membrane due to enhanced release from intracellular calcium stores.
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PMID:Urocortin hyperpolarizes stomach smooth muscle via activation of Ca2+-sensitive K+ currents. 1122 90