Adrenocorticotrophic and melanocyte-stimulating peptides in the human pituitary.
The adrenocorticotrophic and melanocyte-stimulating peptides of the human pituitary were investigated by means of radioimmunoassay, bioassay and physicochemical procedures. Substantial amounts of adrenocorticotrophin and a peptide resembling beta-lipotrophin were identified in pituitary extracts, but alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone, beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and corticotrophin-like intermediate lobe peptide, which have been identified in the pars intermedia of pituitaries from other vertebrates, were not found. The absence of beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormone appears to contradict previous chemical and radioimmunological studies. Our results suggest, however, that it is not a natural pituitary peptide but an artefact formed by enzymic degradation of beta-lipotrophin during extraction.
D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D000818:Animals; D001322:Autoanalysis; D002417:Cattle; D002498:Centrifugation; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D002852:Chromatography, Ion Exchange; D006801:Humans; D006868:Hydrolysis; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D010455:Peptides; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000032:analysis*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D008083:beta-Lipotropin / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism
D000596:Amino Acids; D010455:Peptides; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones; D008083:beta-Lipotropin