Increase of beta-endorphin in cerebrospinal fluid after removal of ACTH-secreting pituitary adenoma
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Tomoo Furui1, Naoki Kageyama, Akio Kuwayama
1Department of Neurosurgery, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan Department of Internal Medicine, Kyoto University School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan Department of Internal Medicine, Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya Japan.
Abstract:
beta-Endorphin and methionine(met)-enkephalin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured before and after removal of an adrenocorticotropic hormone-(ACTH)-secreting adenoma in Cushing's disease by a sensitive radioimmunoassay and a radio-receptor assay, respectively. After tumor resection, the level of ACTH in plasma markedly decreased from 82.6 +/- 22.7 pg/ml to 16.7 +/- 4.1 pg/ml (mean +/- S.E., n = 4). It was found that the level of beta-endorphin in CSF significantly increases from 32.0 +/- 4.5 pg/ml to 61.8 +/- 10.7 pg/ml (P less than 0.05) after tumor resection, while the level of metenkephalin in CSF remained unaltered. This result suggests that hypophysectomy induces an increase of beta-endorphin in CSF.