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)

Very often the allocation of putative damages for wrongful death and the determination of aggravating factors in the sentencing of an individual convicted of homicide by a jury is based on a subjective determination of the amount of pain suffered by the victim. This study was designed to determine whether the quantitative determination of peptides involved in nociception and inflammation offer the potential to provide an objective basis for an assessment of pain prior to death. Two peptides. substance P and met-enkephalin, were quantitated using radioimmunoassay (RIA) in the serum of 131 autopsy subjects. Cases were selected that presented decedents who underwent a violent death resulting in extensive trauma to tissue. Only decedents with no known prior clinical manifestation and no indication of prior drug use were selected. Of 131 cases selected, 59 died from blunt trauma deaths, 47 from gunshot deaths, and 25 from stabbing deaths. Cases were selected without regard to whether the death was accidental, or by homicide or suicide. Values from cases having similar incident-death time intervals were pooled and then compared. Results show that an observable pattern exists between the concentrations of substance P and met-enkephalin and the incident-death time interval. Data showed that the concentrations of substance P and met-enkephalin vary with the incident-death time interval. The amount of serum substance P initially increases with increasing incident-death time interval but begins to decrease at longer incident-death time intervals. In contrast, the serum concentration of met-enkephalin continues to show increased concentration as the incident-death time intervals become greater. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed to determine the level of significance of the variation in both peptide concentrations within four consecutive time intervals. Variation in substance P concentration was statistically significant in all comparisons performed with 0.01 being the lowest level of significance of any four consecutive groups tested. Conversely, intervals encompassing incident-death time intervals of 1-2 hours to 5-10 days did not demonstrate significant variation in met-enkephalin concentration. However, groups with smaller and larger time intervals than the nonsignificant groups did show statistical variation. Although owing to a number of variables, a direct correlation between peptide concentrations and the level of pain may not be possible, the results of the study indicate that a presumption of antemortem pain may be possible with future study.
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PMID:Measurement of substance P and met-enkephalin in the serum of violent death victims. 2586 68

Overactivity of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function has been implicated in depression and suicidal behavior. This is based on the observation of an abnormal dexamethasone (DEX) and DEX-adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) test in patients with depression and suicidal behavior. Recently, some studies have also found abnormalities of glucocorticoid receptors (GR), mineralocorticoid receptors (MR), corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), CRF receptors (CRF-R) and CRF binding protein (CRF-BP) in depressed and suicidal patients. Some investigators have also observed increased levels of CRF in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and altered levels of MR, GR and CRF in the postmortem brain of depressed and suicidal subjects. We have earlier reported decreased protein and mRNA expression of GR and GILZ, a chaperone protein, in the postmortem brain of teenage suicide subjects. We have further studied CRF and its receptors in different areas of the postmortem brain of suicide subjects, i.e., the prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus (HIPPO), subiculum and amygdala (AMY) from teenage suicide subjects. The CRF and its receptors were determined in the PFC (Brodmann area 9), HIPPO, subiculum and different amygdaloid nuclei from 24 normal control subjects and 24 teenage suicide subjects. Protein expression of CRF, its receptors and CRF-BP was determined by immunolabeling using the Western blot technique and mRNA expression was determined by real-time PCR (qPCR) technique. We found that the mRNA levels of CRF were significantly increased in the PFC, in the central amygdaloid nucleus (CeAMY) and in the subiculum. mRNA levels of CRF-R1 and CRF-BP were significantly decreased in the PFC. We did not find any changes in the HIPPO of any of the CRF components we studied. When we compared the protein expression of CRF components we found that CRF was significantly increased and CRF-R1, CRF-R2 and CRF-BP significantly decreased in the PFC. On the other hand, there were no changes in the protein expression of CRF components in the HIPPO. Our results in the postmortem brain suggest that, as found by clinical studies in the CSF, there are significant alterations of CRF and its receptors in the postmortem brain of teenage suicide subjects. These alterations of CRF and its components were region-specific, as changes were not generally observed in the HIPPO.
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PMID:Increased protein and mRNA expression of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), decreased CRF receptors and CRF binding protein in specific postmortem brain areas of teenage suicide subjects. 3100 44

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mood disorder that may lead to use of drugs, alcohol, and even suicide in acute cases. It has been shown that neurotransmitters and hormones have the same receptors and pathways in the mood area of the brain. Therefore, metabolic and biochemical changes are expected in MDD and, in such diseases, understanding the hormonal alterations would be extremely helpful in the management or treatment with hormone replacement therapy. We evaluated levels of cortisol, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), testosterone, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), free thyroxine index (FT4I), T3 resin uptake (T3RU), and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) in 79 patients suffering from MDD and 71 healthy controls. The existence of MDD was confirmed by a face-to-face structured clinical interview. We started the investigation by taking a blood sample from the study population. Then, hormone levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Significant differences were found between TSH, FT4I, DHEA-S, ACTH, testosterone, and cortisol/DHEA-S ratio in MDD patients compared to the healthy controls. We also demonstrated a correlation between MDD recurrence and FT4I index and TSH, respectively. Regarding some hormonal changes in patients with MDD, hormonal shifts should be considered in the treatment or management of MDD patients.
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PMID:Assessment of hormonal alterations in major depressive disorder: A clinical study. 3110 20

Background: Approximately half of all patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also suffer from major depressive disorder (MDD). This co-occurrence might lead to an impairment of cognitive functions, worse response to antidepressant medications, and an increased risk of suicide in comparison to patients with PTSD alone. Prognosis for people with PTSD and MDD co-occurrence is poorer than for either one alone; therefore, researchers look for novel, effective treatments. Case Presentation: A patient with MDD with the co-occurrence of PTSD was admitted to the Department of Endocrinology with suspicion of adrenal insufficiency. In order to assess the adrenocorticotropin/cortisol axis, a standard insulin tolerance test was performed. After inducing a hypoglycemic episode with intravenous short-acting insulin, PTSD symptoms were reduced. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the reduction of PTSD symptoms after performing an insulin tolerance test. Conclusion: Reduction of PTSD symptoms in PTSD and MDD comorbidity has been noticed after a hypoglycemic episode. This demonstrates the mutual dependencies between the endocrine and nervous systems, covered extensively by psychoneuroendocrinology.
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PMID:Reduction of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms in PTSD and Major Depressive Disorder Comorbidity After Acute Hypoglycemia-A Case Report. 3140 84


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