title: Thyrotropin releasing hormone biosynthesis in neonatal rat pancreas.
abstract: We studied the in vitro synthesis of thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH) by pancreatic cells, using [14C]histidine incorporation and radioimmunoassay. Neonatal pancreases were incubated in Krebs-Ringer-bicarbonate buffer, pH 7.4, at 37 degrees C, under 95% O2-5% CO2. [14C]histidine was added and its incorporation into the tissue proteins was followed up to 4 hours. The methanolic pancreatic extracts obtained were subjected to Sephadex G-200 chromatography. Two peaks of [14C] radioactivity were eluted, one small (20% of total radioactivity) with the void volume and one large in a position identical to synthetic TRH. Both radioactive peaks corresponded to immunoreactive TRH peaks present in the same samples. In pulse-chase experiments, excess cold histidine was used and samples taken showed again similar radioactive peaks with an initial increase and a later decrease in the size of the small peak. We conclude that the neonatal rat pancreas actively synthesizes TRH and/or a higher molecular weight TRH-like protein, which may represent a TRH precursor.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D006639:Histidine; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010179:Pancreas / Q000378:metabolism*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D051381:Rats; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D006639:Histidine; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone