The novel peptide, pyroglutamyl-glutamyl-proline amide (pGlu-Glu-ProNH2; EEP), which has structural and immunological similarities to TRH (pGlu-His-ProNH2) has recently been shown to contribute to total TRH-like immunoreactivity (t-TRH-LI) detected in the rabbit prostate and rat and porcine anterior pituitary. In this study, the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on rat pituitary TRH-like peptide levels in the rat were determined. TRH-like immunoreactivity (TRH-LI) was separated by ion exchange chromatography and detected by TRH RIA. Anion exchange chromatographic analysis suggested that EEP-like immunoreactivity (EEP-LI) accounted for 15·0 ± 1·2 pmol t-TRH-LI/g (70·4 ± 3·9%) in the control anterior pituitary with the remaining t-TRH-LI being due to TRH-LI.
Following DEX treatment pituitary EEP-LI and TRH-LI increased by 200% and 400% (P<0·001) respectively, constituting a 2·5-fold increase in t-TRH-LI in the pituitary. TRH-LI now accounted for 45·7±5·3% of t-TRH-LI compared with 29·6 ±4·1% in the controls. TRH-LI, but not EEP-LI, was detected in the hypothalamus and posterior pituitary, suggesting that EEP-LI is synthesised within the anterior pituitary. DEX also caused a 2·6-fold rise (P<0·001) in t-TRH-LI in dispersed, cultured anterior pituitary cells. Chromatographic analysis of cultured pituitary cell extracts revealed that the majority of t-TRH-LI (>98%) was due to TRH-LI. A possible explanation for the change in EEP-LI and TRH-LI levels in the in vivo and in vitro pituitary samples is that hypothalamic influences are necessary for the continued production of EEP-LI and are not present in vitro. Alternatively, the dissociation of the cell–cell interactions and/or the accumulation of cell products, particularly pituitary hormones in vitro, may result in a loss of the in vivo paracrine influences or the introduction of factors which inhibit EEP-LI and stimulate TRH-LI.
Journal of Endocrinology (1995) 145, 333–341
Journal of Endocrinology is committed to supporting researchers in demonstrating the impact of their articles published in the journal.
The two types of article metrics we measure are (i) more traditional full-text views and pdf downloads, and (ii) Altmetric data, which shows the wider impact of articles in a range of non-traditional sources, such as social media.
More information is on the Reasons to publish page.
Sept 2018 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Full Text Views | 0 | 0 | 0 |
PDF Downloads | 1 | 0 | 0 |