title: Occurrence of atrial natriuretic polypeptide in brain.
abstract: In order to determine whether or not atrial natriuretic polypeptides (ANPs) exist in the brain, we have studied extracts from the rat brain using a specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) for alpha-atrial natriuretic polypeptide. The presence and widespread distribution of alpha-rat ANP-like immunoreactivity (alpha-rANP-LI) have been demonstrated in the rat brain. The highest concentration of alpha-rANP-LI (20-22 ng/g) is in the hypothalamus and the septum. Moderate concentrations of alpha-rANP-LI (2-8 ng/g) are also found in the midbrain, cerebral cortex, olfactory bulb, thalamus, pons-medulla and hippocampus. High performance gel permeation chromatography coupled with the RIA revealed that alpha-rANP-LI found in the rat brain consists of three components eluting at the positions of gamma-rat ANP (gamma-rANP), beta-rat ANP (beta-rANP) and alpha-rANP, respectively. Among these a low molecular weight form of alpha-rANP-LI emerging at the elution position corresponding to alpha-rANP is predominant in the rat brain. This is in contrast to the finding that gamma-rANP, a high molecular weight form of 13k daltons is the dominant form of alpha-rANP-LI in the rat atrium. These results clearly show that there exists a widespread neural system containing ANPs in the brain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morii
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakao
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimokura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kiso
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kihara
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamori
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Imura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D002850:Chromatography, Gel / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009124:Muscle Proteins / Q000032:analysis*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000032:analysis; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains
chemical_list: D009124:Muscle Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor