title: Milk protein-derived opioid receptor ligands.
abstract: Milk is mammalian characteristic and is of particular importance for humans: Mother's milk or its substitutes from cows' milk are absolutely essential nutriments for the neonate and cows' milk also represents a basic foodstuff for adults. However, in addition to their well-known nutritive role, milk constituents apparently are also able to carry specific information from the milk producer's to the milk receiver's organism: Thus, a number of milk protein fragments has been shown to behave like opioid receptor ligands able to address opioidergic systems in the adult's or in the neonate's organism. With respect to the proteins, which they are derived off these peptides have been named alpha-casein exorphins or casoxin D (alpha-casein), beta-casomorphins or beta-casorphin (beta-casein), casoxin or casoxin A, B, or C (k-casein), alpha-lactorphins (alpha-lactalbumin), beta-lactorphin (beta-lactoglobulin) or lactoferroxins (lactoferrin). Only casoxins and lactoferroxins display antagonistic properties; the other peptides behave like opioid receptor agonists. Most of the information available so far has been collected about beta-casomorphins. These peptides obviously can be released from beta-casein in the adult's or in the neonate's organism, where they might elicit opioid effects in the frame of a regulatory role as "food hormones". Several synthetic beta-casomorphin derivatives have been shown to be highly specific and potent mu-type opioid receptor ligands which frequently have been used as standard tools in opioid research.
authors.affiliation: Rudolf-Buchheim-Institut für Pharmakologie, Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Teschemacher
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brantl
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002364:Caseins / Q000737:chemistry; D004723:Endorphins / Q000378:metabolism; D007768:Lactalbumin / Q000737:chemistry; D007781:Lactoferrin / Q000737:chemistry; D007782:Lactoglobulins / Q000737:chemistry; D008024:Ligands; D008894:Milk Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D018847:Opioid Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011957:Receptors, Opioid / Q000819:agonists / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002364:Caseins; D004723:Endorphins; D007782:Lactoglobulins; D008024:Ligands; D008894:Milk Proteins; D009292:Narcotic Antagonists; D018847:Opioid Peptides; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011957:Receptors, Opioid; C021968:beta-casomorphins; D007768:Lactalbumin; D007781:Lactoferrin