Abstract
The prohormone of β-endorphin is unusual in that it is the precursor of more than one biologically active peptide1–3 (Fig. 1). The activation of this prohormone, to produce corticotropin (ACTH), α-melanotropin (α-MSH) and β-endorphin, would seem to be relatively complex as its processing pattern is known to differ between tissues. Thus ACTH is produced in the anterior pituitary whereas α-MSH is formed in the pars intermedia4,5; similarly, lipotropin and β-endorphin seem to predominate in the anterior pituitary whereas β-endorphin alone has been thought to be the principal component in the pars intermedia. We report here a study of the distribution of β-endorphin-related peptides in various regions of porcine pituitary. The main products in the anterior pituitary were lipotropin and the potent analgesic form of β-endorphin, whereas the main products in the pars intermedia were the inactive lipotropin C′-fragment and its N-acetyl derivative. Thus the processing of the C-terminal region of the β-endorphin prohormone differs markedly between the two regions of porcine pituitary.
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Smyth, D., Zakarian, S. Selective processing of β-endorphin in regions of porcine pituitary. Nature 288, 613–615 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/288613a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/288613a0
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