Presence of ghrelin in normal and adenomatous human pituitary

Recently, an endogenous ligand has been described for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R), named ghrelin. It was originally isolated from the stomach, but it is also present in the hypothalamus, where the highest concentration of GHS-R has been detected. It is well established that synthetic GHSs exert their effects on the growth hormone (GH) axis principally via the hypothalamus, although they are also able to stimulate GH release directly from the pituitary. We have previously demonstrated the presence of GHS-R mRNA expression in normal and abnormal human pituitary. We have therefore now investigated the expression of the newly recognized endogenous ligand in rat as well as in human pituitary. We readily detected ghrelin mRNA message in normal rat pituitary using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction with published primers. We then designed primers to the corresponding region on the human ghrelin sequence and successfully detected mRNA message in normal human pituitary, as well as in somatotroph, lactotroph, corticotroph, thyrotroph, and nonfunctioning adenomas. We confirmed the expected polymerase chain reaction product by direct sequencing. In conclusion, we suggest that in addition to the probable hypothalamic effects of ghrelin, the peptide is synthesized locally within the pituitary gland, where it may influence the release of GH in an autocrine or paracrine manner.