Pars intermedia peptides: studies in adult humans

A combination of radioimmunoassays and chromatography under acid-dissociating conditions has been used to obtain profiles of ACTH and LPH-related peptides in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. The spectra of peptides observed in these two fluids differ markedly. ACTH, beta-LPH, gamma-LPH and beta-endorphin are observed in the plasma of normal subjects and patients with increased pituitary ACTH secretion, whereas cerebrospinal fluid contains ACTH, beta-LPH, gamma-LPH and beta-endorphin, a 31 000-molecular-weight putative precursor having ACTH, LPH and gamma-MSH immunoreactivities, as well as pro-gamma-MSH(1-77) and smaller immunoreactive gamma-MSH fragments, alpha-MSH was not observed in blood or cerebrospinal fluid but this pars intermedia peptide and corticotropin-like intermediate lobe peptide (CLIP) were both found in tumour tissues obtained from patients with the ectopic ACTH syndrome. In vitro studies of human pituitary tumour tissues confirmed concomitant secretion of ACTH, beta-LPH, gamma-LPH, beta-endorphin and pro-gamma-MSH, which could be stimulated by a preparation of crude stalk median eminence and synthetic arginine vasopressin, from the rat, and could be suppressed by hydrocortisone. Clinical studies in which electroacupuncture was used to alleviate the symptoms of heroin withdrawal or recurrent pain revealed that concentrations of met-enkephalin and beta-endorphin, respectively, may rise in cerebrospinal fluid in association with relief of symptoms.