Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Pituitary control of pigmentation has known for more than 60 years. Since 1969, beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (beta-MSH) has been accepted as the main pituitary pigmentary hormone in man. Its "constant companionship" with adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) has also been repeatedly demonstrated. Current investigations challenge both of these concepts. Human beta-MSH immunoreactivity has been shown to be actually due to beta-lipotropic hormone (beta-LPH), a larger molecule that within itself contains the entire amino acid sequence of beta-MSH. Human beta-MSH does not exist in vivo; it is merely an extraction artifact formed by enzymatic degradation of beta-LPH. It would appear likely that beta-LPH, not beta-MSH, is the constant companion of ACTH.
JAMA 1978 Sep 15
PMID:Pituitary pigmentary hormones. Relationship of melanocyte-stimulating hormone to lipotropic hormone. 21 Mar 1

Injections of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) into the periaqueductal gray matter of drug-naive rats resulted in a dose-dependent opiate abstinence syndrome characterized by fearful hyperreactivity and explosive motor behavior. Injecting shorter chains of ACTH caused attenuated forms of this behavior. Injections of beta-endorphin at this same site caused opposite behavior: sedative, analgestic, and catatonic. If the effects of morphine are mediated by two classes of receptor) and the other which is not stereospecific and naloxone-insensitive--the endogtor)--and the other which is not stereospecific and naloxone-insensitive the endogenous ligand of the second receptor may be ACTH. The neuropeptides ACTH and endorphin may be part of an integrated neuromodulatory system, and the opiate abstinence syndrome may be the result of an altered interaction between the two receptor systems.
Science 1978 Sep 15
PMID:Opiate effects after adrenocorticotropin or beta-endorphin injection in the periaqueductal gray matter of rats. 21 May 6

Morphine and the opioid peptides leucine-enkephalin (leu-enk), methionine-enkephalin (met-enk) and beta-endorphin had no effect on basal cyclic AMP levels in rat cerebral cortex and hypothalamus, but each inhibited noradrenaline (NA)-stimulated cyclic AMP formation in both brain regions. This inhibition was reversed by naloxone. Naloxone did not reverse phentolamine- or propranolol-induced inhibition of NA-stimulated cyclic AMP formation. The increase in cyclic AMP formation induced by NaF or MnCl2 was unaffected by met-enk or morphine. These data suggest that in rat cerebral cortex and hypothalamus opiates bind to opiate receptors and that the opiate-receptor complex interferes with noradrenergic receptor activity.
Brain Res 1978 Sep 08
PMID:Effect of opioid peptides on L-noradrenaline-stimulated cyclic AMP formation in homogenates of rat cerebral cortex and hypothalamus. 21 Aug 78

The adrenal response to a soluble form of beta1-24-corticotropin (tetracosactrin [ACTH]: 250 microgram administered intramuscularly) was studied in 28 patients with meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis (21 with petechiae and seven without) and in six patients with Salmonella typhi bacteremia. Six normal subjects also were tested for adrenal responsiveness at four different times of the day (8 A.M., 12 noon, 4 P.M., and 10 P.M.) and served as controls. The results showed that, whatever the time of testing, patients with meningococcal infections and typhoid fever had unstimulated (basal) levels of plasma cortisol above the 99% confidence limits for the mean unstimulated cortisol levels for the normal subjects. Furthermore, although patients with meningitis without petechiae and subjects with S. typhi bacteremia responded to ACTH stimulation in a manner similar to that of the normal subjects, most subjects with meningitis with petechiae did not have increased levels of plasma cortisol after treatment with ACTH. This lack of response could not be ascribed entirely to the higher basal levels of plasma cortisol in these patients. Patients with meningitis associated with petechiae may have a relatively decreased adrenal response to stimulation with exogenous ACTH.
J Infect Dis 1978 Sep
PMID:The adrenal response to exogenous adrenocorticotrophin in patients with infections due to Neisseria meningitidis. 21 89

A corticotropin-inhibiting peptide (CIP) has been isolated from human pituitary extracts. It consists of 32 amino acids with a proposed sequence identical to residues 7--38 of corticotropin (ACTH). The peptide has been synthesized by the solid-phase method. The melanotropic activity of the peptide is estimated to be 30% of the potency of ACTH. It is devoid of corticosteroidogenic activity but is able to inhibit ACTH-stimulated corticosterone production in isolated rat adrenal cells.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1978 Sep
PMID:Isolation, characterization, and synthesis of a corticotropin-inhibiting peptide from human pituitary glands. 21 44

1H--2H exchange kinetics of the peptide hydrogens in corticotropin have been examined in 2H2O and CF3C2H2O2H solutions by means of infrared absorption measurements. In aqueous solution, around pH 3, the experimental data suggest a partially ordered structure, since in the two corticotropins 1--24 and 1--32 about 6 slowly exchanging peptide protons are numbered. These might belong to the N-terminal part of the molecule. The C-terminal 25--32 octapeptide segment appears to be unordered and slightly destabilizes the overall hormone conformation. For corticotropin1--24 in CF3C2H2O2H, the qualitative interpretation of infrared spectra and the quantitative analysis of exchange data give evidence of a strong stabilization: a predominantly alpha-helical structure is induced by trifluoroethanol.
Biochim Biophys Acta 1978 Sep 26
PMID:Conformation of corticotropin. An infrared spectrometry study of hydrogen exchange kinetics. 21 23

An autopsy case of a 9-year-old Japanese girl revealed a carcinoid tumor originating in the duodenum and hyperplasia of the multiple endocrine organs as manifested by ectopic ACTH syndrome, carcinoid syndrome and giantism. The tumor cells were positive for histochemical argyrophile reaction and two types of secretory granules were identified by electron microscopy. Biochemical assay revealed the production of ACTH and beta-MSH by the tumor cells. Other changes of multiple endocrine organs included acidophil dominant hyperplasia of the pituitary, diffuse hyperplasia of the thyroid, chief cell hyperplasia of the parathyroid, hyperplasia of the islets of Langerhans and the adrenal cortex. This case was considered to be a type of multiple endocrine adenomatosis including carcinoid tumor. The relationship between the carcinoid tumor and multiple endocrine adenomatosis was discussed.
Acta Pathol Jpn 1978 Sep
PMID:Ectopic ACTH-MSH producing carcinoid tumor with multiple endocrine hyperplasia in a child. 21 30

The role of cyclic AMP in the regulation of aldosterone production by adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), angiotensin II (A II), potassium, and serotonin was examined in collagenase-dispersed adrenal glomerulosa cells. The ability of 8-bromo cyclic AMP and choleragen to stimulate maximum aldosterone production indicated that cyclic AMP could act as second messenger for certain of the aldosterone-stimulating factors. The actions of ACTH and choleragen on aldosterone and cyclic AMP production were correlated in dog and rat cells, and a similar relation was seen during stimulation of rat cells by serotonin. In contrast, A II and potassium did not cause changes in cyclic AMP formation while stimulating aldosterone production. Intracellular and receptor-bound cyclic AMP were increased 3-fold by 10(-7) M ACTH but not by A II. Addition of a phosphodiesterase inhibitor increased the magnitude of the cyclic AMP response to ACTH but did not change the lack of stimulation by A II or potassium. In dog cells, the effects of A II and potassium on aldosterone production were partially additive to those of ACTH, choleragen, and 8-bromo cyclic AMP. In contrast, no additivity was observed between A II and potassium, or between combinations of the cyclic AMP-dependent stimuli. These results indicate that the actions of ACTH on aldosterone secretion are mediated by cyclic AMP formation, whereas A II and potassium stimulate aldosterone production through an independent mechanism. The lack of additivity between steroid responses to A II and potassium suggests that these factors could share a common mode of action on steroidogenesis in zona glomerulosa cells.
J Biol Chem 1979 Sep 10
PMID:The role of cyclic AMP in aldosterone production by isolated zona glomerulosa cells. 22 59

The effects of oral contraceptive treatment on the pituitary-adrenal axis were studied. Secretion rate and plasma concentration of the adrenocortical steroid cortisol was modified in subjects treated with estrogenic and/or progestational steroids. Concentrations of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and cortisol in plasma obtained at 0800-0900 hours from a group of women with normal cyclic menses (n=4) ranged from 78-120 pg/ml and 77-137 pg/ml, respectively. Although significant cyclic changes in plasma levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), estradiol, and progesterone occurred during the ovarian cycle, no obvious cyclic fluctuations in plasma levels of ACTH or cortisol were observed. Plasma concentrations of women treated with Norinyl 1 + 80 (1 mg of norethindrone and .08 mg of mestranol) of LH, FSH, estradiol, and progesterone were significantly lower (P .001) than plasma levels of these hormones in normal women during the ovarian cycle. Mean daily plasma concentrations of ACTH were significantly lower ( P .001), whereas plasma cortisol levels were significantly higher (P .001) in women treated with oral contraceptives compared to the levels of these hormones in untreated ovulatory women.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1979 Sep
PMID:Plasma levels of adrenocorticotropin and cortisol in women receiving oral contraceptive steroid treatment. 22 73

ACTH, beta-lipotropin (beta-LPH) and beta-endorphin concentrations were determined in pituitary adenomas of the patients with Cushing's disease. Immunoreactive ACTH and beta-endorphin were present in high concentrations and essentially equimolar amounts in pituitary adenomas. beta-LPH conversion to beta-endorphin was activated in pituitaries associated with ACTH/beta-LPH producing adenomas. Immunoreactive ACTH and beta-endorphin concentrations were markedly suppressed in the surrounding tissues.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1979 Sep
PMID:ACTH, beta-LPH and beta-endorphin in pituitary adenomas of the patients with Cushing's disease: activation of beta-LPH conversion to beta-endorphin. 22 76


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