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

Pituitary cells were shown to release corticotropin (ACTH) in response to interleukin-2 (IL-2) and to express a protein that is related to the alpha-chain of the IL-2 receptor (IL-2R). The alpha-chain-like molecule was bound by a rat monoclonal antibody to the murine IL-2 receptor as well as to IL-2. Sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic analysis of the affinity-purified material from pituitary cells demonstrated a protein which was similar to that which was isolated from activated splenocytes. Thus, IL-2 and its receptor may be one of several hormone-receptor pairs utilized by both the immune and neuroendocrine systems for intersystem communication.
 ...
PMID:Interleukin-2 induction of ACTH secretion: presence of an interleukin-2 receptor alpha-chain-like molecule on pituitary cells. 253 95

The dog pituitary pars intermedia (PI) appears to consist of relative large numbers of ACTH-containing cells in addition to the more abundant alpha MSH-containing cells. Since regulation of PI secretion probably varies across mammalian species, this study was undertaken to identify substances potentially involved in the control of dog PI POMC peptide secretion and to determine if these substances altered the secretion of immunoreactive (IR) ACTH and IR-alpha MSH in a parallel fashion. Pituitary neurointermediate lobes from dogs were collected and dispersed, and the PI cells obtained were perifused. For comparison, rat PI and pars distalis (PD) cells as well as dog PD cells were similarly collected and perifused. Dog PI cells secreted IR-alpha MSH at a basal rate of 125 +/- 59 (mean +/- SD) pg/min.10(5) cells and IR-ACTH at a rate of 40 +/- 9 pg/min.10(5) cells (molar IR-alpha MSH/IR-ACTH = 10). In contrast, secretion rates for IR-alpha MSH and IR-ACTH from perifused rat PI cells were 171 +/- 108 and 3 +/- 2 pg/min.10(5) cells, respectively (molar IR-alpha MSH/IR-ACTH = 179). Using Sephadex G-50 gel filtration chromatography, virtually all of the IR-beta-endorphin secreted by dog PI cells eluted near beta-endorphin (1-31). In addition, all of the IR-alpha MSH secreted by dog PI cells coeluted with synthetic alpha MSH on the G-50 column, but IR-ACTH appeared in two peaks, one eluting near porcine ACTH-(1-39) and another, apparently larger mol wt species. Dopamine and somatostatin were found to inhibit the secretion of IR-alpha MSH and IR-ACTH from perifused dog PI cells in a parallel and dose-dependent fashion. Norepinephrine and epinephrine similarly inhibited POMC peptide secretion, but this effect was blocked by haloperidol, suggesting that it was mediated through a dopamine receptor. CRF stimulated the secretion of both hormones from dog PI, and this effect was abolished by treatment of the cells with either dopamine or somatostatin. Cortisol had no effect on either basal or CRF-stimulated secretion of IR-alpha MSH or IR-ACTH from dog PI cells, but it did inhibit CRF-stimulated IR-ACTH from perifused dog PD. These results suggest that 1) dog PI secretes considerably more IR-ACTH than that in the rat; 2) the probable separate cell sources of IR-alpha MSH and IR-ACTH in dog PI are regulated in an identical fashion; and 3) dopamine, somatostatin, and CRF may function in the physiological or pathophysiological regulation of dog PI.
 ...
PMID:Regulation and secretion of proopiomelanocortin peptides from isolated perifused dog pituitary pars intermedia cells. 253 71

We studied pituitary corticotropin response to exogenous corticotropin-releasing hormone infusion and attempted to control for the confounding effect of variable serum cortisol levels between depressed and control subjects. If metyrapone was given during the time of day when hypothalamic pituitary adrenal activity was otherwise low, the relative increase in the corticotropin concentration was small. Pituitary response to exogenous corticotropin-releasing hormone can be defined under conditions in which the amount of glucocorticoid-mediated negative feedback present at the level of the pituitary gland is equal in all subjects. When the ambient cortisol level was equalized (and suppressed) in all subjects at the time of study with a threshold dosage of corticotropin-releasing hormone, we found an augmented response to corticotropin-releasing hormone in depressives. This raises the possibility that either increased pituitary sensitivity to corticotropin-releasing hormone or an increased intracellular pool of corticotropin is available for release in subjects with major depressive illness.
 ...
PMID:Augmented pituitary corticotropin response to a threshold dosage of human corticotropin-releasing hormone in depressives pretreated with metyrapone. 254 55

Infection of lymphocytes with Newcastle disease virus induces the cells to synthesize immunoreactive (ir) adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and endorphins. The irACTH is synthesized de novo, and common properties of lymphocyte and pituitary ACTH include: antigenicity, bioactivity, molecular weight, and retention time on reverse phase high-pressure liquid chromatography. The irACTH appears to be active in vivo because a rise in serum corticosterone levels in hypophysectomized mice corresponds with spleen cell production of irACTH. Furthermore, preliminary experiments showed that B cell depletion blocked the normal rise in serum corticosterone levels after herpes simplex virus infection of intact mice. It seems that a similar system operates in vivo in humans. Typhoid vaccine, which induces lymphocyte-derived irACTH production in vitro, caused a time-dependent increase in the number of irACTH-positive lymphocytes in both hypopituitarism and normal short children. A rise in serum cortisol levels was seen in one patient with hypopituitarism and all normal patients. The above regulatory circuit also seems able to act in the reverse direction. Pituitary ACTH and alpha-endorphin can behave like lymphokines by being immunosuppressive at 0.5 microM in an in vitro antibody synthesis system. Further, lymphocytes were shown to have high-affinity receptors for both of these hormones. Thus, it appears that the immune and neuroendocrine systems have the ability to signal each other through common or related peptide hormones and receptors.
 ...
PMID:A complete regulatory loop between the immune and neuroendocrine systems. 257 15

Neonatal rats show a period of diminished adrenocorticotropin responsiveness to stress during the first 2 weeks of life. To test whether beta-endorphin-like peptides (beta-EPLPs) follow the same pattern of hyporesponsiveness to stress during this period, we examined the ontogeny of the beta-EPLPs response to two different types of stressors (ether vapors and cold) during the early postnatal period. The content of beta-EPLPs was estimated in the serum, the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus prior to and 5 min following exposure to stressful stimuli. Furthermore, to determine the relationship between the responsiveness of beta-EPLPs to stress and that of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the developing rat, the content of hypothalamic corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and serum corticosterone was estimated prior to and following stress. Results indicated that stress induced an increase in the serum corticosterone levels at all ages tested (days 1-22), however, the stress-induced elevations of serum corticosterone were significantly greater on days 1 and 22 than on days 3-14. Significant stress-induced elevations of serum immunoreactive beta-endorphin (ir-beta-EP) were observed on days 14 and 22 of life, while changes on days 1, 3, 8 and 10 were either nonexistent or not statistically significant. Gel filtration analysis revealed that the increases in serum ir-beta-EP following stress on days 14 and 22 resulted primarily from increases in the beta-lipotropin component with lesser increases in the beta-endorphin component. Pituitary content of beta-EPLPs was not affected by stress before day 10, but was markedly reduced in the 10- and 14-day-old rats, following stress. A similar, although not statistically significant decrease was observed in the pituitary content of beta-EPLPs of the 22-day-old rats after exposure to stress. Furthermore, exposure to cold stress in the 14-day-old rats induced more pronounced changes in the serum ir-beta-EP and corticosterone levels as well as in the pituitary ir-beta-EP content than it did with ether stress. Despite variations in serum corticosterone as well as serum and pituitary content of beta-EPLPs, no changes in the hypothalamic ir-beta-EP content were seen in rats after subjection to stress, while small, not statistically significant reductions in the hypothalamic CRF content were observed at 5 min after the onset of stress in the 14-and 22-day-old rats. Thus, during the first 2 weeks of life neonatal rats exhibit a reduced capacity to secrete beta-EPLPs in response to stress.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Ontogeny of the beta-endorphin response to stress in the rat: role of the pituitary and the hypothalamus. 281 72

Circadian variations in alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) content of discrete hypothalamic areas of the male rat were observed either with radioimmunoassay or bioassay. In the medial basal hypothalamus and preoptic area the alpha-MSH content increased sharply between 02.00 and 06.00 h, showing the highest concentration at 06.00 h. In contrast, no significant changes in alpha-MSH content were detected in the lateral hypothalamus during a 24-hour period. Pituitary alpha-MSH also showed a diurnal variation which was different from that in the two hypothalamic areas. The finding that alpha-MSH values in the brain are maximal during the activity period of the rat is in agreement with results demonstrating a role of alpha-MSH in behaviour and locomotor activity.
 ...
PMID:Changes in alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone content in discrete hypothalamic areas of the male rat during a twenty-four-hour period. 282 Aug 56

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome is characterized by signs of overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system. Biochemical studies indicate that increased release of norepinephrine is associated with certain symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, and the severity of the withdrawal symptoms correlates positively with the amount of norepinephrine released. In the rat, the brain epinephrine concentration is reduced by alcohol, a phenomenon probably associated with both the intoxicating and rewarding effects of alcohol intake. Furthermore, intoxicating effects of alcohol can be reversed by inhibiting epinephrine synthesis in the rat brain. In this species, alcohol withdrawal is associated with profound depletion of epinephrine in the hypothalamus. When clonidine, a norepinephrine alpha-2-receptor agonist, was infused in alcoholics, these receptors were found to be subsensitive during alcohol withdrawal, and this subsensitivity may contribute to the syndrome. Repeated withdrawals may lead to "kindling" and thus further enhancement of noradrenergic overactivity. Pituitary responsiveness to corticotropin-releasing hormone, which is a central regulator of stress responses and increases the firing rate of brain noradrenergic neurons, is altered during alcohol withdrawal.
 ...
PMID:NIH conference. Alcohol withdrawal and noradrenergic function. 282 72

We have studied the post-translational processing of POMC-derived peptides during fetal monkey development using immunoassay and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP HPLC). Pituitary tissues obtained from fetal monkeys ranging from Gestational Day 50 to 155 were fractionated and analyzed for ACTH- and alpha-MSH-related peptides and compared to adult forms. Extracts of whole pituitary from Fetal Days 50 and 55 contained ACTH(1-39) and very small amounts of CLIP (corticotropin-like intermediate-lobe peptide; ACTH(18-39))-like immunoactivity. Acetylated alpha-MSHs were not detectable at Day 50. alpha-MSHs were barely detectable at Day 55. By Day 65, when pituitary lobes were separable, small amounts of des-, mono-, and diacetyl alpha-MSH were detectable in NIL extracts, but not in anterior lobe extracts. ACTH(1-39) levels were negligible when compared to increasing alpha-MSHs through Fetal Day 80 to 155 in the intermediate lobe. The CLIP immunoactivity was negligible in Day 80 and adult anterior lobe extracts. Thus, lobe-specific proteolytic processing of ACTH-related peptides was well established by midterm gestation. Marked increases of alpha-N- and alpha-N,O-acetylated forms of alpha-MSHs were detected during middle and late stage fetal development. Diacetyl alpha-MSH was the predominant form of alpha-MSH in adult NIL extracts. No acetylated alpha-MSHs were found in anterior lobe tissues, thus adult anterior lobe extracts contained almost exclusively ACTH(1-39). However adult NIL extracts contained two distinct forms of CLIP-related immunoactivity. Therefore changes in post-translational processing patterns of ACTH-related and alpha-MSH-related peptides continued to some extent, postnatally. These data indicate that marked changes in post-translational processing of POMC-derived ACTH-related products occur during the first half of monkey gestation.
 ...
PMID:Post-translational processing of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived peptides during fetal monkey pituitary development. I. Adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and alpha-melanotropins (alpha-MSHs). 283 Jan 57

A non-surgical, non-stressful technique was used for collection of pituitary venous blood from five conscious horses every minute for two 10-min periods before and during isolation from the herd, which caused a predictable, yet humane and physiological, emotional stress. Pituitary blood was also sampled every 5 min for two approximately 90-min periods before and after isolation, while jugular blood was sampled every 15 min throughout the experiment. During isolation, all horses became agitated, hyperventilating and sweating. Packed red cell volume increased, as did pituitary venous concentrations of adrenaline (mean +/- S.E.M. concentration before isolation, 621.5 +/- 112.3 pmol/l; peak during isolation, 2665.4 +/- 869.8 pmol/l; P less than 0.05) and noradrenaline (before, 871.8 +/- 111.8 pmol/l; peak, 2726.1 +/- 547.4 pmol/l; P less than 0.02). Concentrations of arginine vasopressin (AVP) were higher in pituitary venous but not in jugular blood during isolation than during the preceding 10-min period (P less than 0.05). Although AVP secretion increased in all horses, in three of the five it rose dramatically in the first minute of isolation to 25.7 (horse 1), 13.6 (horse 4) and 145.1 (horse 5) times the level in the last sample collected before isolation. Mean pituitary venous concentrations of ACTH and alpha-MSH increased during isolation in the three horses which had large increases in AVP secretion, but, overall, stress did not significantly affect ACTH or alpha-MSH secretion. Similarly, mean jugular cortisol levels were not significantly altered by isolation. However, the magnitudes of ACTH, AVP and alpha-MSH responses to isolation were negatively correlated with the jugular cortisol level before isolation. The changes in pituitary venous concentrations of ACTH and AVP were synchronous under resting conditions, whether samples were collected at intervals of 1 (P less than 0.01) or 5 (P less than 0.005) min; however, this synchrony was lost during isolation. The changes in pituitary venous concentrations of ACTH and alpha-MSH were synchronous both at rest (P less than 0.025 for 1-min sampling, P less than 0.01 for 5-min sampling) and during isolation (P less than 0.01). We conclude that isolation stress increases AVP secretion and may alter the temporal relationship between pituitary venous concentrations of AVP and ACTH. Furthermore, the magnitude of the responses of AVP, ACTH and alpha-MSH to isolation is significantly affected by the prevailing cortisol level.
 ...
PMID:Effect of isolation stress on concentrations of arginine vasopressin, alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and ACTH in the pituitary venous effluent of the normal horse. 283 3

Immunoreactive (IR) POMC peptides have been found in several rat nonpituitary tissues. We found IR-ACTH, IR-beta-endorphin (beta END), and IR-gamma MSH in extracts from the following eight rat nonpituitary tissues, listed in order of decreasing POMC peptide concentrations: testis, duodenum, kidney, colon, liver, lung, stomach, and spleen, but not in adrenal or muscle extracts. Concentrations were very low and ranged from less than 0.00003% to 0.0005% of pituitary levels. In testis, duodenum, and colon, IR-gamma MSH and IR-beta END concentrations were only 5-37% of IR-ACTH levels. Gel filtration chromatography showed that IR-ACTH and IR-beta END coeluted in a major peak of 15,000 daltons, which is slightly larger than expected for a C-terminal peptide containing rat ACTH and beta-lipotropin. There were also a minor higher mol wt peak of IR-ACTH and IR-beta END and a minor IR-beta END peak that eluted in the position of mature beta END. There was no peak of IR-ACTH that corresponded to the size of mature ACTH. To determine whether these nonpituitary tissues also contained a POMC-like mRNA, which would confirm that the peptides were synthesized locally within the tissues, we examined poly(A) RNA prepared from 10 nonpituitary tissues and total RNA from pituitary by Northern blot hybridization for the presence of a POMC-like mRNA with an exon 3 riboprobe. Pituitary contained a single POMC mRNA species of about 1000 nucleotides. A short POMC-like mRNA of about 800 bases was found in all nonpituitary tissues, except spleen and muscle. Compared to POMC mRNA levels in pituitary, the concentration of POMC-like mRNA was 0.5% in testis and 0.03-0.07% in the other tissues. The ratio of POMC-like mRNA to IR-POMC peptide concentrations in nonpituitary tissues was at least 1000 times greater than that in the pituitary. We conclude that the POMC gene is expressed in many nonpituitary tissues and that either the short POMC-like mRNA is translated much less efficiently or POMC peptides are released or degraded much more rapidly in nonpituitary tissues than in the pituitary.
 ...
PMID:Immunoreactive proopiomelanocortin (POMC) peptides and POMC-like messenger ribonucleic acid are present in many rat nonpituitary tissues. 283 69


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>