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)

A 7-month-old infant had the infantile spasm syndrome, consisting of flexor and extensor spasms, developmental delay, and hypsarrhythmia. Corticotropin produced delay, and hypsarrhythmia. Corticotropin produced improvement in the clinical symptoms and reverted the generalized electroencephalographic abnormalities to more focal ones. Removal of a choroid plexus papilloma of the left lateral ventricle was followed by clinical recovery. One year later the child was normal developmentally and neurologically and was seizure free on anticonvulsant therapy.
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PMID:Choroid plexus papilloma and infantile spasms. 44 63

This study investigates the effect of pertubation of the normal pituitary-adrenal axis on concentrations of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-like immunoactivity in peripheral tissues. We used a polyclonal antibody (West antibody) to measure ACTH-like immunoactivity in glacial acetic acid extracts of five tissues in adult male rats at increasing times (1, 7, 14, and 28 days) after hypophysectomy or adrenalectomy, and in normal control rats. Concentrations of ACTH-like immunoactivity were similar to those previously reported in liver, colon, heart, and small intestine and were not significantly affected by either hypophysectomy or adrenalectomy. While hypophysectomy also had no effect in the kidney, adrenalectomy resulted in a four-fold increase in extractable immunoactivity, first noticeable at seven days (p less than 0.005), but increasing progressively to 28 days (p less than 0.0005). Gel filtration showed that most of the increase in activity in kidneys of adrenalectomized rats corresponded to the 4.5 kD form comprising most of the serum ACTH immunoactivity and suggesting that the activity increase in kidney was largely due to ACTH derived from blood.
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PMID:ACTH immunoactivity in normal rat tissues: modulation by hypophysectomy and adrenalectomy. 131 81

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) therapy is useful in the treatment of patients with West syndrome, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in association with ACTH therapy has recently been reported. We describe the Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of an infant who had West syndrome and HCM. ACTH therapy produced increases in the interventricular septal thickness, the pressure gradient of the left ventricular outflow tract, and the heart rate. Doppler echocardiographic examination was found to be much more sensitive for monitoring the cardiac changes than either 2-dimensional echocardiography or the heart rate.
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PMID:Doppler echocardiographic evaluation of an infant with HCM during ACTH therapy. 165 69

Infantile spasms is a type of seizure disorder usually occurring within the first 24 months of life. The standard treatment is intramuscular injections of repository corticotropin (HP ACTHAR gel). The child with infantile spasms is at risk for developmental delay, even if the seizures are controlled. The parents' grief reaction to this prognosis may affect their ability to learn and implement the treatment plan. Discharge planning for children and families is extensive and must begin at the time of the child's admission to the hospital.
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PMID:Discharge planning for the child with infantile spasms. 169 84

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 7 patients with infantile spasms (mean age: 6.7 months) was collected before and after treatment with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). The concentration of neurotransmitter metabolites was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography and compared to the metabolite concentration in the CSF from 7 age-matched controls (mean age: 6.1 months). Pretreatment levels of CSF 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), homovanillic acid, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl glycol (MHPG), and kynurenine were significantly lower in infantile spasm patients compared to controls. Following treatment, marked increases in 5-HIAA and decreases in kynurenine levels were observed in the CSF of the 5 infants whose seizures were eliminated or reduced by ACTH. In the 2 nonresponders 5-HIAA levels decreased. The level of MHPG was reduced slightly in 5 infants, including the 2 nonresponders, and was increased in 2 responders. CSF homovanillic acid levels increased in 4 infantile spasm infants and decreased in 3 following ACTH. These data demonstrate that the presence of seizures in infantile spasms is associated with a significant decrease in serotonergic activity and that elimination of seizures by ACTH is accompanied by increased serotonin turnover. The simultaneous increase of 5-HIAA and decrease of kynurenine, an alternate metabolite of tryptophan, suggests an underlying disturbance of tryptophan metabolism in infantile spasms. The possibility that elimination of seizures by ACTH may be related to decreased production of certain kynurenine metabolites, particularly quinolinic acid, is discussed.
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PMID:Changes in CSF neurotransmitters in infantile spasms. 172 2

To determine whether a diurnal rhythm exists in neonates admitted to neonatal intensive care units where there is continuous artificial lighting and periodic nursing and medical care, plasma cortisol, adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), and beta-endorphin concentrations were measured in two groups of infants and in adult human volunteers. As expected, a diurnal rhythm was seen in adults. A diurnal rhythm was also found for cortisol and endorphin levels in neonates (3 to 4 days postnatally) with minimal stress and in infants who were clinically severely stressed. There was not a significant difference between the morning and afternoon concentrations of ACTH in these infants, but the afternoon concentrations were lower than the morning's, as would be expected. We found that a diurnal rhythm does exist in neonates within the first few days of postnatal life and that the continuous lighting and medical and nursing interventions do not interfere with this rhythm.
West J Med 1989 Aug
PMID:Diurnal rhythms of cortisol, ACTH, and beta-endorphin levels in neonates and adults. 254 30

We report seizures induced by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which were demonstrated clinically and electro-encephalographically, in a severely handicapped 7-month-old infant with West syndrome due to perinatal hypoxicischemic encephalopathy. Although tonic spasms (original seizures) decreased soon after starting ACTH treatment, new brief tonic seizures, somewhat more slowly motioned than the original tonic spasms, frequently appeared only during sleep after consecutive ACTH injections for 11 days, in place of the tonic spasms seen in the waking state. After discontinuation of ACTH therapy with the last injection on the 16th day, the brief tonic seizures began to decrease and finally disappeared in 8 days. Ictal EEG of new brief tonic seizures revealed diffuse fast spiky wave bursts, 50-150 microV and 10-20 c/s, with a duration of 0.5-4 seconds, which were different from attenuation associated with low voltage rhythmic fast activity corresponding to tonic spasms, the original seizures. Therefore, we considered that the new brief tonic seizures, which appeared only during sleep in the course of ACTH therapy, were ACTH-induced seizures.
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PMID:ACTH-induced seizures in an infant with West syndrome. 255 40

Endocrinologists from University Hospital in Frankfurt, West Germany, compared data on 19 women 20-36 years old who had taken oral contraceptives (OCs) for at least 4 months before the study (cases) with those of 12 age matched women who took no OCs for at least 6 months before the study (controls). The goal of the study was determine the reliability of total cortisol, unbound salivary and serum cortisol, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) parameters in the dexamethasone (2mg) suppression test under conditions of chronically high estrogen levels due to OC use. Radioimmunoassay techniques were used to measure baseline and post-dexamethasone levels of all parameters. Equilibrium dialysis was used to measure unbound serum cortisol. The mean baseline levels for all parameters were considerably greater in the cases than in the controls: total serum cortisol (32.7 mcg/dl vs. 15.6mcg/dl; p .001), free salivary cortisol (9.6ng/ml vs. 5.6ng/ml; p .01), ACTH (50.8pg/ml s. 34.2pg/ml; p .05), and free serum cortisol (6.3 mg/ml vs. 4.2 ng/ml; p .01). This suggested that estrogens exert a direct stimulatory effect on the corticotroph axis separate from a corticosteroid-binding globulin mediated increase of total cortisol. TOtal and free salivary cortisol levels after the dexamethasone suppression test for the 1 groups were not statistically significant (2.3 mcg/dl vs. 1.7 mcg/ml vs. 1.1ng/ml, respectively). On the other hand, ACTH suppression was significantly better for cases than it was for controls (2.2pg/ml vs. 5.3 pg/ml; p .001). These data indicate that post-dexamethasone measurements of ACTH or free cortisol in women taking OCs are not needed since total cortisol measurements provide the information needed. Therefore physicians should not use the dexamethasone suppression test to diagnose Cushing's disease in women using OCs.
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PMID:The dexamethasone suppression test and long-term contraceptive treatment: measurement of ACTH or salivary cortisol does not improve the reliability of the test. 256 Sep 85

Very small amounts of pituitary hormones and their peptide fragments can profoundly affect learning, memory and other behaviors in both rodents and humans. In addition, several potent pituitary hormone analogs have been developed (e.g. ORG-2766) which retain the behavioral but not the endocrine properties of the parent hormone. The abilities of these peptides to influence nervous system functions suggested that they also may be capable of modifying seizure activity. This possibility is supported by the fact that treatment with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) represents a major effective therapy for at least one clinical convulsive disorder, infantile spasm. This contention also is reinforced by our findings that ORG-2766 markedly reduces both the behavioral severity and the spread of seizure potentials in an animal model of epilepsy, the kindled rat. By contrast, arginine vasopressin and its non-endocrine desglycyl fragment (DGAVP) facilitates the seizure process in this animal model. Our research also suggests that the behavioral and physiological effects of certain anterior and posterior pituitary hormone fragments depend, in part, on their abilities to modulate permeability mechanisms in brain vasculature. In addition, and especially significant from the standpoint of etiology, is the observation that the kindling process itself appears to alter cerebrovascular permeability. In the kindled rat, "permanent" decreases in permeability (60-75%) are found selectively in the hypothalamic and hippocampal regions, weeks after the last seizure. Several lines of evidence indicate that disruption of normal cerebrovascular function occurs following epileptiform seizures. We propose that an immediate increase in cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular permeability occurs following a single, acute seizure, and that repeated chronic seizures lead to damage to the cerebrovascular system. Sustained damage would be expected to contribute to the development and maintenance of a chronic seizure focus. Such observations suggest a link between important cerebrovascular disturbances associated with seizures and the existing known and proposed electrophysiological, metabolic and neuropathological substrates of epilepsy. They also point to new strategies for the treatment of seizure disorders by focusing on ways to reduce or prevent cerebrovascular damage.
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PMID:ACTH-related peptides, kindling and seizure disorders. 303 92

Plasma prolactin response to thyrotropin-releasing-hormone (TRH) stimulation was diminished in 30 patients with prolactinomas and 9 patients with acromegaly who had normal serum prolactin levels. There was no overlap of prolactin responses when compared with 32 control patients. Responses of ten patients with adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-secreting pituitary tumors were similar to those of controls. Plasma growth hormone concentrations after TRH stimulation changed significantly in 28% of normal control and 20%, 25% and 50% of patients with prolactin-, growth hormone- and ACTH-secreting pituitary tumors, respectively. Our data suggest that the blunted TRH-induced rise in plasma prolactin levels in patients with prolactinomas and those with acromegaly may be related to humoral factor(s) affecting TRH receptor or postreceptor function. Growth hormone responses to TRH are nonspecific and should not be considered a marker for active acromegaly.
West J Med 1987 Aug
PMID:Diagnostic value of thyrotropin-releasing-hormone stimulation in patients with pituitary tumor. 311 72


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