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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Normal subjects were studied to test the feasibility of a combined anterior pituitary function test using iv administration of four hypothalamic releasing hormones: ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone, human GH-releasing hormone, GnRH, and TRH. Initially, nine normal men were studied with various combinations of these four hormones to exclude the possibility that they might inhibit or synergize with each other in releasing the individual anterior pituitary hormones. When given in combination, the releasing hormones were administered as sequential 20-sec iv infusions in the following order and doses: ovine corticotropin-releasing hormone, 1 microgram/kg; GnRH, 100 micrograms; human GH-releasing hormone, 1 microgram/kg; and TRH, 200 micrograms. Plasma or serum samples were assayed for ACTH, cortisol, GH, PRL, FSH, LH, and TSH at multiple times for 120 min after injection. Compared to individual administration, combined administration of these four hypothalamic releasing hormones caused no apparent inhibition or synergism with respect to the individual hormone responses of these normal subjects. Side-effects of the combined test were the same as those observed with individual hormone administration. No unusual or dangerous side-effects were observed. Having confirmed the efficacy of combined administration of the four releasing hormones, we administered the combination to five additional normal men and 12 normal women. Anterior pituitary hormone and cortisol responses were the same in men and women, except for a lower LH and a greater PRL response in women. There was a rapid increase in all hormones, with peak levels usually reached by 60 min. Adequate assessment of individual hormone responses can be achieved by assaying a basal and only 2 (or 3 in the case of ACTH and GH) postinfusion samples. A rapid, safe, and useful test of combined anterior pituitary function appears to be feasible using these four hypothalamic releasing hormones.
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PMID:Rapid sequential intravenous administration of four hypothalamic releasing hormones as a combined anterior pituitary function test in normal subjects. 298 3

Anterior pituitary quarters were incubated in vitro and the release of beta-endorphin-like (beta-End-IR) and adrenocorticotropin-like immunoreactivity (ACTH-IR) was determined. The effect of phospholipase A2 as well as the effect of various compounds known to influence arachidonic acid metabolism under certain conditions were examined. Phospholipase A2 increased the release of beta-End-IR and ACTH-IR. This effect was reversible, concentration-dependent (1-400 ng/ml) and inhibited in calcium-free medium and in the presence of CoCl2 (5 mM) or phospholipase A2 inhibitors (p-bromophenacylbromide, 21 microM; mepacrine, 1 mM). The phospholipase A2-induced beta-End-IR release was accompanied by the release of prostaglandin E2. Inhibition of cyclooxygenase activity by indomethacin (14 or 140 microM) did not change beta-End-IR release induced by phospholipase A2 (5 ng/ml). The effects of blockers of lipoxygenase (nordihydroguaiaretic acid, NDGA; AA861) or lipoxygenase plus cyclooxygenase (BW755C; eicosatetraynoic acid, ETYA) on phospholipase A2-induced release of beta-End-IR were diverse. BW755C (up to 250 microM) and AA861 (up to 100 microM) produced no effect. However, NDGA or ETYA inhibited phospholipase A2-induced beta-End-IR release. NDGA (100 microM) produced a maximum inhibition by about 40% (p less than 0.05), whereas ETYA (100 microM) produced a maximum inhibition by about 85% (p less than 0.001). These data are consistent with the view that phospholipase A2 releases endogenous arachidonic acid which is transformed into products which stimulate ACTH and beta-endorphin release from the corticotrophs; the metabolizing enzyme (possibly a lipoxygenase or epoxygenase) is sensitive to NDGA and especially to ETYA.
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PMID:Effect of various blockers of arachidonic acid metabolism on release of beta-endorphin- and adrenocorticotropin-like immunoreactivity induced by phospholipase A2 from rat adenohypophysis in vitro. 301 92

Anterior pituitary hypersecretion can be due to abnormal hypothalamic regulation, decreased peripheral hormone feedback or pituitary tumor. In some cases hypersecretion gives rise to a typical clinical syndrome involving acromegaly, hyperprolactinemia, and excess corticotropin (ACTH). The etiology of acromegaly is a growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary tumor in the vast majority of cases. Hyperprolactinemia and excess cortisol, however, may be due to many causes among which prolactin (PRL)- and ACTH-secreting pituitary tumors are not frequent. Glycoprotein-secreting pituitary tumors, especially gonadotropin (LH and FSH) and free subunits usually do not cause a typical excess hormone syndrome. Perhaps for this reason they are seldom recognized clinically, although histopathological studies are increasingly disclosing the gonadotrope nature of many pituitary tumors. Mixed hormonal secretions are common. When pituitary hormone secretion can be selectively suppressed by medical therapy, a significant reduction of tumor size is by no means rare. In other cases, pituitary irradiation or surgery, or even treatment aimed at a peripheral target gland, may be necessary.
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PMID:[Anterior pituitary hypersecretion syndromes]. 302 61

The effect of melittin on the release of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and beta-endorphin from the corticotropic cells of the rat adenohypophysis was examined in vitro. Anterior pituitary quarters were perifused or incubated in vitro and ACTH- (ACTH-IR) or beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity (beta-End-IR) in the medium was measured by radioimmunoassays. Melittin stimulated ACTH-IR and beta-End-IR release. This effect was rapid in onset, reversible, and concentration-related (50-5000 ng/ml) and depended on the presence of calcium ions in the incubation medium. Melittin also elevated the tissue content of unesterified 3H-arachidonic acid that had previously been incorporated into lipids. Purported phospholipase A2 inhibitors, mepacrine (up to 1 mM), dexamethasone (0.5 mg/kg in vivo, 50 nM in vitro), or p-bromophenacylbromide (100 microM), did not decrease the melittin (500 ng/ml) - induced beta-End-IR release, although mepacrine and dexamethasone may have inhibited phospholipase A2 activity as indicated by an inhibition of melittin-evoked prostaglandin E2 formation. After stimulation by melittin (500 ng/ml), beta-End-IR release was not affected by the cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin (up to 140 microM), whereas nordihydroguaiaretic acid (100 microM), a lipoxygenase inhibitor, or BW755C (250 microM), an inhibitor of both cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase, abolished melittin-induced hormone secretion. We conclude that melittin generates a signal in the corticotropic cells of the rat adenohypophysis which induces hormone secretion by exocytosis. This signal may be unrelated to the activation by melittin of phospholipase A2.
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PMID:Stimulation by melittin of adrenocorticotropin and beta-endorphin release from rat adenohypophysis in vitro. 303 49

The observation that suckling evokes a modest rise in serum TSH when compared with that of prolactin is inconsistent with the hypothesis that TRH serves as a hypophysiotropic mediator of this response. In the present study we attempted to provide an explanation for this discrepancy by determining whether any of a growing number of putative prolactin releasing factors could alter pituitary responsiveness to TRH. Anterior pituitaries from lactating (day 14) rats were monodispersed with trypsin, cultured for 2 days, and then incubated in the presence of medium alone or medium containing TRH, dopamine, or a combination of these secretagogues. Companion sets of cultures were incubated concurrently with either beta-endorphin, neurotensin, oxytocin, serotonin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, or lysine vasopressin. As expected, TRH stimulated and dopamine suppressed prolactin release. None of the substances tested except oxytocin had a significant effect on pituitary cell responsiveness to TRH or dopamine. Oxytocin had no effect on prolactin secretion when tested alone or in combination with TRH and dopamine. TRH alone stimulated TSH release by these cultures, while oxytocin and dopamine were ineffective by themselves. However, TSH secretion by cultures treated simultaneously with TRH and oxytocin could be suppressed to approximately half of that released by cells incubated with TRH alone. These results demonstrate that oxytocin attenuates TRH-induced TSH release by a direct action on pituitary cells without affecting the prolactin response. This selectivity of responsiveness imparted by oxytocin might contribute to the blunted release of TSH after suckling.
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PMID:Oxytocin attenuates TRH-induced TSH release from rat pituitary cells. 315 75

Anterior hypothalamic implantations of crystalline atropine markedly inhibit the adrenocortical responses evoked by surgical stress, ether anesthesia, or intravenolus injection of arginine vasopressin. Similar implants in nearby regions of the brain or sham implantations in the same region were ineffective. The data suggest that the hypothalamic control of pituitary corticotropin may have a cholinergic component.
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PMID:Corticotropin release: inhibition by intrahypothalamic implantation of atropine. 429 46

Previous studies performed to elucidate an anterior pituitary site of action for beta-endorphin (B-EP) in the regulation of prolactin (PRL) release have been inconclusive. The purpose of the present study was to further investigate if B-EP could stimulate PRL release by a direct action at the anterior pituitary. Anterior pituitaries from ovariectomized rats were dispersed, and the cells were plated in Ham's F-10 medium. Following a 48-hour preincubation period, the effects of B-EP on basal PRL release and on the dopamine-inhibited PRL release were studied over a 24-hour period. Overall, B-EP at concentrations ranging from 10(-8) to 10(-6) M had no effect on basal release of PRL at 1, 3, 5 and 24 h, although a small but significant increase of 39% was observed with 10(-6) M B-EP at 1 h of incubation only. B-EP at 10(-6) M, but not at lower concentrations, significantly suppressed the inhibitory effects of 10(-6) M dopamine on PRL release at 1 h but not at longer periods of incubation. Pretreatment of the cells for 3 h with 10(-6) M naloxone antagonized the suppressive effect of B-EP on the dopamine-mediated inhibition of PRL release. Naloxone pretreatment of the cells had no effect on basal nor dopamine-inhibited release of PRL. Because of the high concentration of B-EP required to suppress the dopamine inhibition and the transitory nature of this B-EP effect, it is unlikely that the primary site of action for B-EP in regulating PRL release is at the anterior pituitary.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Does beta-endorphin modulate basal and dopamine-inhibited prolactin release by an action at the anterior pituitary? 609 53

The distribution and ultrastructure of cells immunoreactive towards antisera against synthetic fragments of proopiocortin were studied in human pituitaries by immunohistochemical methods. Anterior lobe cells exhibiting the ultrastructural characteristics of corticolipotropes, as well as all epithelial cells 'invading' the posterior lobe, display beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin-ACTH immunoreactivities. At low dilution a beta-lipotropin antiserum, raised with highly purified antigen, stains also somatotropes. alpha-MSH antibodies bind to certain corticolipotropic cells in the pars distalis and to only a few of the cells 'invading' the pars nervosa. Met-enkephalin antisera react only with isolated cells in the anterior lobe. These results indicate a striking difference in the processing of the proopiocortin precursor molecule in different corticolipotropic cells of the human hypophysis. Furthermore, the hypothesis of a homology between cells 'invading' the human neurohypophysis and those of the intermediate lobe of lower vertebrates, is questioned.
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PMID:'Proopiocortin fragments' in normal human adult pituitary. Distribution and ultrastructural characterization of immunoreactive cells. 625 6

Median eminence corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) and pituitary and peripheral plasma adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and AVP were measured in male Wistar rats 1 and 2 weeks after bilateral adrenalectomy (ADX), sham operation (SHAM) or dexamethasone-treatment (DEX). Median eminence AVP content was unchanged 1 week after ADX but was significantly elevated 2 weeks after ADX, whereas CRF activity was reduced at 1 week after ADX and returned to control range at 2 weeks. Anterior pituitary ACTH content was elevated but posterior pituitary AVP content was reduced at 1 and 2 weeks after ADX. Plasma ACTH was greatly elevated in ADX rats and reduced in DEX rats, whereas plasma AVP did not differ significantly between these two groups or the control group. When ADX and SHAM rats were laparotomized under ether, plasma ACTH increased greatly, but this elevation was prevented by DEX treatment. The plasma AVP level was elevated in all three groups 2.5 min after onset of stress but returned to the basal range at 20 min. Median eminence CRF and AVP and pituitary ACTH and AVP were not significantly changed after onset of stress. These results indicate that the vasopressin and CRF-ACTH responses were not consistent in the median eminence, pituitary and peripheral plasma and suggest that vasopression is not involved in the feedback and acute stress mechanism of CRF-ACTH secretion. However, we have to measure CRF activity and AVP concentration in the hypophysial portal blood to confirm this conclusion.
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PMID:Vasopressin and CRF-ACTH in adrenalectomized and dexamethasone-treated rats. 625 47

Fragments of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) cell adenomas and anterior lobes of two patients with Cushing's disease were obtained by transnasal operation. Both patients showed the typical clinical course, with postoperative ACTH deficit and all other pituitary functions intact. Equivalent specimens of tissue were investigated by immunocytology and in a superfusion system. The majority of adenoma cells were ACTH-positive, whereas ACTH-secreting cells of the anterior lobes were mostly inactive and were reduced in number. In vitro, adenomatous tissue showed high ACTH secretion into the superfusion medium, which was increased significantly after vasopressin application. Corticoid feedback was impaired Anterior lobe cells exhibited a significant spontaneous ACTH secretion that was reduced by cortisol, but not stimulated by vasopressin. These results support the concept of an impaired corticoid feedback at the adenoma level in the presence of suppressed ACTH secretion of the para-adenomatous anterior lobe.
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PMID:In vitro secretion of adenoma and anterior lobe cells in two typical cases of Cushing's disease. 630 1


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