title: N-acetylation regulates the behavioral activity of alpha-melanotropin in a multineurotransmitter neuron.
abstract: A multineurotransmitter neuronal system that synthesizes and secretes both acetylated and deacetylated forms of alpha-melantropin and beta-endorphin is present in rat and human brain. The N-acetylated from of alpha-melanotropin had more potent behavioral effects than the deacetylated alpha-melanotropin. In the case of beta-endorphin, however, the deacetylated form has been shown to be more potent than the acetylated form. Enzymatic N-acetylation appears to be an important regulatory process for modulating the behavioral activity of peptides secreted from the opiomelanotropinergic multineurotransmitter neuron.
mesh_terms: D000107:Acetylation; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
chemical_list: D009074:Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormones