title: The distribution of forms of adrenocorticotropin and beta-endorphin in normal, tumorous, and autopsy human anterior pituiary tissue: virtual absence of 13K adrenocorticotropin.
abstract: To begin to define the nature of the biosynthesis and processing of ACTH and beta-endorphin in the human, anterior pituitary tissue (fresh normal and adenomatous, and autopsy) was extracted in acetic acid in the presence of protease inhibitors and subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The gel slice eluates were assayed for ACTH and beta-endorphin immunoactivity. Human anterior pituitary tissue contained four major size classes of ACTH and three major size classes of beta-endorphin. We found that in all tissue sources examined there was a virtual absence of 13-15K ACTH, which is a major form in the rat and mouse. When comparing extracts obtained from fresh normal or adenomatous anterior pituitary tissue, we also found a drastic decrease in beta-lipotropin and beta-endorphin in extracts of autopsy human anterior pituitaries. These results suggest that the biosynthesis and processing of pituitary ACTH and beta-endorphin in the human may be different than in the mouse, and because of apparent postmortem proteolysis of beta-endorphin, human pituitary obtained at autopsy is probably not a good source of material for biochemical studies of pituitary tissue.
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000032:analysis*; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000032:analysis*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology; D004723:Endorphins / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007016:Hypophysectomy; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010903:Pituitary Gland, Anterior / Q000032:analysis*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000032:analysis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000556:secondary
chemical_list: D004723:Endorphins; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone