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)

Paraffin sections of cervical and upper thoracic paravertebral ganglia of the cat were investigated by immunohistochemistry using antisera directed against calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). The relationships of CGRP-immunoreactive structures to those exhibiting immunoreactivity to antisera against other regulatory peptides and dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH), respectively, were studied in consecutive sections. Singly scattered CGRP-immunoreactive neuronal perikarya were observed in the superior and middle cervical ganglia as well as in the stellate ganglion. These neurons also displayed immunoreactivity to vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), and some additionally exhibited faint substance-P immunoreactivity. DBH- and neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive ganglion cells were not identical with CGRP-immunoreactive neuronal cell bodies. According to the immunoreactive properties of varicosities, which abut on CGRP/VIP-immunoreactive perikarya, three types of CGRP/VIP-immunoreactive ganglion cells could be distinguished: (1) CGRP/VIP-immunoreactive neurons being surrounded by somatostatin-immunoreactive nerve fibers, (2) neurons being approached by both DBH- and met-enkephalin-immunoreactive varicosities, and (3) neurons receiving both DBH- and neurotensin-immunoreactive fibers. The stellate and upper thoracic ganglia harbored clusters of intensely VIP-immunoreactive somata, which lacked CGRP-immunoreactivity. Fine somatostatin-immunoreactive and coarse CGRP-immunoreactive fibers were distributed within these clusters, whereas patches of neurotensin-immunoreactive fibers were complementarily arranged. At all segmental levels investigated, a few postganglionic neurons were approached by both CGRP-immunoreactive and substance P-immunoreactive varicosities, but lacked a VIP-immunoreactive innervation. Therefore, CGRP/substance P-immunoreactive fiber baskets appeared rather to be of extraganglionic origin than to emerge from intraganglionic CGRP/VIP/SP neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Neuropeptide distribution in the cervico-thoracic paravertebral ganglia of the cat with particular reference to calcitonin gene-related peptide immunoreactivity. 289 95

A morphologic, histochemical, and immunocytochemical study of 20 cases of pure gastrointestinal carcinoids, adenocarcinomas, and mixed neoplasms composed of both elements, so-called composite carcinoma-carcinoid tumors (CCC), was undertaken in order to correlate the morphologic patterns with the immunocytochemical localization of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), serotonin, and a battery of polypeptide hormones (calcitonin, glucagon, insulin, gastrin, somatostatin, and adrenocorticotropin [ACTH]). Paraffin sections from five pure carcinoids, seven pure adenocarcinomas, and eight CCC from the stomach, small bowel, appendix, and colon were studied with mucicarmine, silver impregnation stains, and a peroxidase-anti-peroxidase technic. Of the eight CCC, all were mucin positive, four were argyrophilic, and three were argentaffin positive. CEA was present in all eight, serotonin in seven, and calcitonin in one. No other neurohormonal peptides were demonstrated. The distribution of serotonin and CEA generally corresponded to the morphologic pattern, but discordance was observed in two cases, i.e., serotonin was not always localized to areas of carcinoid and CEA not always confined to areas of carcinoma. All five pure carcinoids demonstrated intracytoplasmic localization of serotonin, whereas none contained intracytoplasmic CEA. In two cases, CEA was present within acinar lumens only. The seven colonic adenocarcinomas were argyrophil and argentaffin negative. All contained CEA within the cytoplasm and in gland lumens. None contained serotonin. None of the neurohormonal peptides was localized in either pure adenocarcinomas or carcinoids. This study reveals that among gastrointestinal neoplasms displaying morphologic patterns of adenocarcinoma and carcinoid, immunocytochemical localization of CEA and serotonin confirms their bidirectional differentiation and justifies the designation "composite carcinoma-carcinoid."
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PMID:Composite carcinoma-carcinoid tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. A morphologic, histochemical, and immunocytochemical study. 389 86

Paraffin sections of brain and pituitary of the hagfish Eptatretus burgeri were immunostained with an antiserum to FMRF-amide. Immunoreactivity was visible in a large number of neurons in the posterior part of the ventromedial hypothalamus and in long neuronal processes extending cranially from the hypothalamus to the olfactory system and caudally to the medulla oblongata. FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity was also found in cells of the adenohypophysis. These observations suggest that the hagfish possesses a brain FMRF-amide-like transmitter system and pituitary cells containing FMRF-amide-like material. Antisera to ACTH, alpha-MSH and pancreatic polypeptide gave no immunoreaction in hagfish brain or pituitary.
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PMID:FMRF-amide-like immunoreactivity in brain and pituitary of the hagfish Eptatretus burgeri (Cyclostomata). 638 25

Twenty-five pituitary adenomas were analyzed for expression of various chromogranin/secretogranin (Cg/Sg) messenger RNA (mRNA) transcripts by in situ hybridization (ISH). An additional five adenomas were also analyzed by Northern hybridization. Immunohistochemical staining for CgA and for SgIV (with monoclonal antibody HISL-19) was also performed. Most prolactin and adrenocorticotropin adenomas did not express CgA mRNA or protein, whereas growth hormone (GH) tumors had low to moderate amounts of CgA mRNA by Northern and in situ hybridization analyses and were focally positive for CgA protein. CgB, SgII, SgIII, and SgV mRNA transcripts were present in most adenomas, and SgIV protein was detected in all groups of tumors. A GH and a null cell adenoma cultured for 7 days also expressed CgA/Sg mRNA transcripts and protein. Paraffin sections of some adenomas that were negative for CgA protein had detectable CgA mRNA by in situ hybridization analysis. These results indicate that CgA mRNA and protein are more commonly expressed in glycoprotein hormone-producing tumors compared with other types of pituitary adenomas and that ISH for CgA may detect the mRNA transcripts for CgA even when CgA protein is not detected by immunohistochemistry.
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PMID:Analysis of chromogranin/secretogranin messenger RNAs in human pituitary adenomas. 816 54

Adaptation of the skin colour to the background light condition in the amphibian Xenopus laevis is achieved by migration of pigment granules in the skin melanophores, a process regulated by alpha-MSH secretion from melanotrope cells in the pituitary pars intermedia (PI). alpha-MSH secretion in turn, is regulated by various stimulatory and inhibitory messengers synthesized in brain nuclei, especially the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic and magnocellular nuclei and the locus coeruleus in the hindbrain. In the present study, the roles in background adaptation of nitric oxide (NO) and NO synthase (NOS) enzyme activity were evaluated. In situ, using both immunohistochemistry with anti-human brain NOS (bNOS) serum in paraffin-embedded material and using nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry in cryo-sections, we showed NOS in neurons in the optic tectum and in the locus coeruleus. NADPH-d reactivity was also found in neurons in the lateral amygdala, the ventral hypothalamic nucleus and in fibers in the median eminence. Using a Western blot stained with an anti-human bNOS serum, we demonstrated a 150 kDa band in Xenopus hindbrain lysates, which is similar to the NOS protein present in the rat anterior pituitary, but which was not detectable in the lysates from both the neurointermediate and distal lobes in Xenopus. No differences in histochemical staining pattern or on Western blotting were observed between animals adapted to a black or a white background. Paraffin sections of the endocrine PI and pars distalis did not reveal bNOS-like immunoreactivity. NADPH-d reactivity was observed in the endothelia of this gland. However, using a new procedure of thin cryo-sections of pituitary neurointermediate lobes, we observed bNOS-immunoreactive fibers as well as cyclic 3',5' guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-accumulating fibers in the PI. The PI may be regulated by NOergic neurons from higher brain centers. The possibility that NOergic neurons in the locus coeruleus are involved in the innervation of the PI needs further investigation. The latter neurons are probably not noradrenergic because double labeling studies show no co-localization of NADPH-d reactivity and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity in locus coeruleus neurons.
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PMID:Nitric oxide synthase and background adaptation in Xenopus laevis. 949 64