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)

To test whether angiotensinogen might be targeted to dense core secretory granules in cells containing a regulated secretory pathway, we expressed rat angiotensinogen in AtT-20 cells, a mouse pituitary cell line that has the demonstrated ability to correctly sort proteins to the constitutive or regulated pathway. We compared the pattern of secretion of angiotensinogen with that of endogenous adrenocorticotropin hormone, which is secreted by AtT-20 cells through the regulated pathway. When cells were incubated for 5 hours with dibutyryladenosine cyclic monophosphate or KCl, adrenocorticotropin hormone secretion was significantly higher than control, whereas monensin had no effect. In contrast, angiotensinogen secretion was markedly reduced by monensin, but no stimulation was observed with dibutyryladenosine cyclic monophosphate or KCl. These results make it unlikely that angiotensinogen could be cotargeted with active renin in the dense core granules of the regulated pathway. Alternative mechanisms must explain how angiotensin II is synthesized locally by tissue renin-angiotensin systems.
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PMID:Rat angiotensinogen is secreted only constitutively when transfected into AtT-20 cells. 216 1

The three major classes of neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVH) provide a rich model for studying hormonal and neural influences on multiple neuropeptides expressed in individual cells. A great deal of previous work has examined this problem at the immunohistochemical level, where hormonal and neural influences on peptide levels have been established. In situ hybridization methods were used here to determine whether these effects are accompanied by measurable changes in neuropeptide mRNA levels. In the first series of experiments, the time-course of corticosterone replacement effects on corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) mRNA levels in parvicellular neuroendocrine cells of adrenalectomized animals were determined, and a dose-response curve was established. CRH mRNA hybridization remains maximal with plasma levels of steroid up to about 50 ng/ml, then declines sharply between about 60-130 ng/ml, and is just detectable at higher levels. We confirmed that corticosterone decreases vasopressin mRNA levels in this cell group and showed that levels of preproenkephalin mRNA are also decreased, whereas no significant changes in cholecystokinin, beta-preprotachykinin, and angiotensinogen mRNA levels could be detected. Thus, corticosterone decreases some neuropeptide mRNA levels and has no influence on others in this cell group. Tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA hybridization is also unaffected in this part of the nucleus. In a second group of experiments, the cell-type specificity of corticosterone influences was examined. It was found that while the hormone depresses CRH mRNA levels in parvicellular neurons, it increases such levels in PVH neurons with descending projections, in certain magnocellular neurosecretory neurons, and in a part of the central nucleus of the amygdala, whereas no influence was detected in the rostral lateral hypothalamic area. Furthermore, the stimulatory effects of corticosterone have different threshold levels in different cell groups. Thus, in different types of neurons, corticosterone may increase, decrease, or have no influence on CRH mRNA levels. In contrast, while corticosterone depresses vasopressin mRNA levels in parvicellular CRH neurons, it has no obvious effects on vasopressin mRNA levels in magnocellular or descending neurons; as with CRH, the effects of corticosterone on vasopressin mRNA levels are cell-type specific. In a third series of experiments it was shown that glucocorticoid receptor and mineralocorticoid receptor mRNAs are found in all three cell types in the PVH and that corticosterone tends to produce modest increases in mRNA levels for both receptors. Finally, it was shown that unilateral catecholamine-depleting knife cuts do not change mRNA levels for any of the neuropeptides (or steroid hormone receptors) examined here, although dramatic changes in neuropeptide levels themselves have been shown.4+
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PMID:Differential steroid hormone and neural influences on peptide mRNA levels in CRH cells of the paraventricular nucleus: a hybridization histochemical study in the rat. 256 87

To investigate the role of brain serotonergic neurons in the regulation of renin secretion, we measured changes in plasma renin activity (PRA), and, in some instances, plasma renin concentration (PRC), plasma angiotensinogen, and plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in rats with lesions of the dorsal raphe nucleus and lesions of the paraventricular nuclei, dorsomedial nuclei, and ventromedial nuclei of the hypothalamus. We also investigated the effects of p-chloroamphetamine (PCA), immobilization, head-up tilt, and a low-sodium diet in the rats with dorsal raphe, paraventricular, and dorsomedial lesions. Lesions of the dorsal raphe nucleus abolished the increase in PRA produced by PCA but had no effect on the increase produced by immobilization, head-up tilt, and a low-sodium diet. Paraventricular lesions, which abolish the increase in plasma ACTH produced by PCA, immobilization, and head-up tilt, decreased plasma angiotensinogen. The paraventricular lesions abolished the PRA and the PRC responses to PCA and the PRA but not PRC response to immobilization, head-up tilt, and a low-sodium diet. The ventromedial lesions abolished the PRA and PRC responses to PCA and did not reduce plasma angiotensinogen. The data suggest that paraventricular lesions depress angiotensinogen production by the liver and that the paraventricular and ventromedial nuclei are part of the pathway by which serotonergic discharges increase renin secretion. They also suggest that the serotonergic pathway does mediate the increases in renin secretion produced by immobilization, head-up tilt, and a low-sodium diet.
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PMID:Role of brain serotonergic pathways and hypothalamus in regulation of renin secretion. 330 Mar 72

Tonin, an esteroprotease isolated from rat submaxillary gland, is a serine protease with trypsin- and chymotrypsin-like activity. The substrate specificity of tonin shows that it differs from kallikreins and is definitely not a renin-like enzyme or an angiotensin-converting enzyme. Tonin can produce directly the vasoactive peptide angiotensin II, from angiotensin I, angiotensinogen and the synthetic tetradecapeptide substrate of renin by cleavage of a Phe-His bond. It has also been found to cleave some Phe and Arg bonds in various substrates such as beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH), adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and substance P. Here we describe the complete amino acid sequence of rat submaxillary gland, tonin. Comparison of the sequence of 219 amino acids with other serine proteases, particularly kallikreins, gamma-subunit of nerve growth factor (NGF) and the recently described gamma-renin, reveals extensive similarities. More interestingly, it also reveals the substitution of an Asp residue always found in the serine protease active site triad (Asp, His, Ser) by a Leu residue. This unusual substitution does not seem to affect the proteolytic activity of the enzyme.
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PMID:Amino acid sequence of rat submaxillary tonin reveals similarities to serine proteases. 632 14

The effect of exogenous and locally generated angiotensin II (ANG II) on the release of beta-endorphin (beta-END) from anterior pituitary cell cultures of rats was studied. Angiotensin I (ANG I) and ANG II stimulated the release of beta-END, the ANG I effects being inhibited by addition of the converting enzyme inhibitor captopril. Renin and angiotensinogen had no effect when given separately, but their combination increased beta-END release. Thus ANG II causes the release of beta-END, but the putative pituitary renin system cannot be stimulated by exogenous renin or angiotensinogen; converting enzyme, however, acts locally to produce biologically active ANG II from ANG I.
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PMID:Angiotensin stimulates beta-endorphin release from anterior pituitary gland cell cultures of rats. 632 83

The major regulator of mineralocorticoid production in the adrenal is angiotensin II produced by the action of renal renin. The discovery that the rodent adrenal also synthesizes renin and angiotensinogen suggests there is autocrine regulation of mineralocorticoid synthesis. The transgenic rat [TGR(mREN2)27] expresses the Ren-2d gene predominantly in the adrenal. Despite suppressed kidney and plasma renin, these animals develop fulminant hypertension between 5 and 15 weeks of age. Corticosteroid concentrations are significantly elevated during hypertension development. We assessed steroidogenesis in TGR(mREN2)27 rats by analyzing the expression of the mRNAs for three steroidogenic enzymes: P450scc, the rate-limiting step of steroidogenesis; P450c11 beta, which converts deoxycorticosterone to corticosterone in the zona fasciculata/reticularis; and P450c11AS, which converts deoxycorticosterone to aldosterone in the zona glomerulosa. P450c11AS mRNA, but neither P450c11 beta nor P450scc mRNA, was overexpressed in the adrenal gland of TGR(mREN2)27 rats. In situ hybridization with specific probes for P450c11 beta and P450c11AS mRNA localized the former exclusively to the zona fasciculata and the latter to the zona glomerulosa. In TGR(mREN2)27 rats, the size of the adrenal and number of P450c11AS-expressing zona glomerulosa cells were about twice those of a normal Sprague-Dawley rat. Both animals respond to corticotropin similarly; corticotropin had no effect on the expression of P450scc and P45011 beta mRNAs, rendered P450c11AS mRNA undetectable, and simultaneously altered the morphology of the adrenal cortex, resulting in a lack of zona glomerulosa-like cells. Thus, the local renin-angiotensin system has a major effect on the basal expression of P450c11AS mRNA, but little effect on the corticotropin-regulated expression of P450scc, P450c11 beta, and P450c11AS mRNAs.
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PMID:Role of adrenal renin in the regulation of adrenal steroidogenesis by corticotropin. 827 56

In addition to increasing blood pressure, stimulating aldosterone and vasopressin secretion, and increasing water intake, angiotensin II affects the secretion of anterior pituitary hormones. Some of these effects are direct. There are angiotensin II receptors on lactotropes and corticotropes in rats, and there may be receptors on thyrotropes and other secretory cells. Circulating angiotensin II reaches these receptors, but angiotensin II is almost certainly generated locally by the pituitary renin-angiotensin system as well. There are also indirect effects produced by the effects of brain angiotensin II on the secretion of hypophyseotropic hormones. In the anterior pituitary of the rat, the gonadotropes contain renin, angiotensin II, and some angiotensin-converting enzyme. There is debate about whether these cells also contain small amounts of angiotensinogen, but most of the angiotensinogen is produced by a separate population of cells and appears to pass in a paracrine fashion to the gonadotropes. An analogous situation exists in the brain. Neurons contain angiotensin II and probably renin, but most angiotensin-converting enzyme is located elsewhere and angiotensinogen is primarily if not solely produced by astrocytes. Angiotensin II causes secretion of prolactin and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) when added to pituitary cells in vitro. Paracrine regulation of prolactin secretion by angiotensin II from the gonadotropes may occur in vitro under certain circumstances, but the effects of peripheral angiotensin II on ACTH secretion appear to be mediated via the brain and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). In the brain, there is good evidence that locally generated angiotensin II causes release of norepinephrine that in turn stimulates gonadotropin-releasing hormone-secreting neurons, increasing circulating luteinizing hormone. In addition, there is evidence that angiotensin II acts in the arcuate nuclei to increase the secretion of dopamine into the portal-hypophyseal vessels, inhibiting prolactin secretion. Central as well as peripheral angiotensin II increases CRH secretion, but there is little if any evidence that angiotensin II mediates the ACTH responses to other stressful stimuli.
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PMID:Blood, pituitary, and brain renin-angiotensin systems and regulation of secretion of anterior pituitary gland. 834 4

Glomerular accumulation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) with subsequent sclerosis is a common finding in most progressive renal diseases. Recently MSW (Mouse South Western) protein was cloned by its ability to bind the bidirectional promoter of the collagen IV genes. This protein was also reported as the large subunit of the DNA replication complex A1, as well as the promoter binding protein of corticotropin-releasing hormone and the angiotensinogen gene. To investigate the mechanism of accumulation of the ECM as it relates to glomerular cellular events, the expression of MSW protein was studied in the remnant kidney model. Progressive expression of MSW protein was found in the glomerular sclerotic lesion at week 4 and at later time points after renal ablation. The expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and type IV collagen was also correlated with the expression of MSW protein by immunofluorescence. RNA dot blot analysis also showed that the expression of MSW mRNA was increased at week 7 in association with the augmented expression of type IV collagen. These results, taken together, suggest that MSW protein plays an important role in the regulation of type IV collagen gene expression in vivo and may contribute to glomerular cell proliferation and the development of glomerulosclerosis.
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PMID:A novel transcription factor is correlated with both glomerular proliferation and sclerosis in the rat renal ablation model. 937 Sep 42