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)

Previous reports have indicated that alpha-MSH release inhibiting hormone (MIF-1) increased the behavior occurring as a result of the dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) potentiation test [3,7]. This study was undertaken to see whether dopamine (DA) or norepinephrine (NE) levels likewise increased in the test animals. The DOPA potentiation test was performed as follows: 2-4 hr before behavior measurement, 40 mg/kg of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor pargyline HCl was given orally. Two hr later this was followed by the intraperitoneal (IP) injection of MIF-1 at doses of 0.1, 0.3 or 1.0 mg/kg. Behavioral measurement was begun after the IP injection of 200 mg/kg of dl-DOPA 1-2 hr after the MIF-1. The parameters included social interaction, aggressiveness, fighting, ataxia, jumping, defecation, urination and salivation. The animals were beheaded while the behavior was still increased and the striatal area removed, placed in aluminum foil, and kept at -50 degrees C until assayed. In general, especially among the younger animals, a significant correlation (p=0.05 to p=0.01) was found between the increased behavioral responses to MIF-I and the rise in DA. Because of a few exceptions to this correlation the possibility is suggested that MIF-I might also affect behavior by acting directly on the postsynaptic membrane thus bypassing any change in NE or DA which is known to increase cycli AMP in the striatum.
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PMID:Possible association of increased rat behavioral effects and increased striatal dopamine and norepinephrine levels during the DOPA-potentiation test. 1 11

Heavy metals including mercury, cadmium, cobalt, and copper (100 microM) exerted an adverse effect on the viability of isolated rat adrenal capsular (zona glomerulosa), adrenal decapsular (fasciculata and reticularis), and Leydig cells of the testis, with mercury being the most potent. Due to the decreased cell viability there was a parallel reduction in corticotropin-stimulated corticosterone production by adrenal decapsular cells and luteinizing hormone-stimulated testosterone production by Leydig cells. The results indicated a direct toxic action of these heavy metals on steroid-producing cells in the adrenal gland and the testis. Other metals tested, including lead, zinc, aluminum, chromium, iron, nickel, and lithium, did not exert any deleterious effect on cell viability or hormone-induced steroidogenesis in adrenal and Leydig cells when tested up to a concentration of 100 microM.
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PMID:Toxic effect of heavy metals on cells isolated from the rat adrenal and testis. 215 92

We report the case of a 61-year-old diabetic woman with end-stage renal disease who was on hemodialysis and who developed an encephalopathy and episodes of hypotension and hypoventilation, all of which showed rapid and dramatic responses on multiple occasions to the administration of the opiate antagonist naloxone. Improvement in encephalopathy was confirmed by electroencephalography. The patient had received no exogenous opiates and had a normal beta-endorphin level. She subsequently developed myoclonus and was treated for possible aluminum overload that was of borderline magnitude. We conclude that this patient had an encephalopathy that responded to opiate receptor blockade. Because of cerebrovascular disease, episodes of diminished blood pressure due to a state of increased opiate receptor stimulation may have unmasked this underlying encephalopathy. These effects may have been secondary to increased opiate-binding sites or to elevated central nervous system levels of endogenous opiates.
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PMID:Naloxone-responsive encephalopathy in end-stage renal disease. 850 23

Ultraviolet A (UV-A) radiation decreases Langerhans cells (LC) in the skin specifically at the site of exposure. Unexpectedly, UV-A irradiation of the eye has been found systemically downregulating epidermal LC in mice. Male C57BL/6j mice and an inducible type of nitric oxide synthase knockout mice (iNOS(-/-)) were used in this study. The eye or ear was locally exposed to UV-A after covering the remaining body surface with aluminum foil at a dose of 110 kJ/m(2) using a sunlamp. Localized UV-A irradiation of the eye downregulated epidermal LC. The hypophysectomy strongly inhibited the UV-A-induced downregulation of LC. To elucidate the pathway by UV-A irradiation of the eye, the effect of a bilateral ciliary ganglionectomy and denervation of the optic nerves was examined. Optic nerve denervation strongly inhibited LC downregulation in response to localized irradiation of the eye. Furthermore, no LC downregulation in response to localized UV-A irradiation of the eye was observed in iNOS(-/-) mice. These results clearly indicate that a signal evoked by UV-A irradiation of the eye is transmitted in a nitric oxide-dependent manner through the optic nerves to the hypothalamo-pituitary pro-opiomelanocortin system.
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PMID:Ultraviolet A irradiation of the eye activates a nitric oxide-dependent hypothalamo-pituitary pro-opiomelanocortin pathway and modulates the functions of Langerhans cells. 1950 Jan 82