Isolation, structural characterization and pharmacological activity of dog neuromedin U.

The neuromedin U-like immunoreactivity in an extract of dog small intestine was resolved by reversed-phase HPLC into two molecular forms. The primary structure of the larger form (NMU-25) was established as: Phe-Arg-Leu-Asp-Glu-Glu-Phe-Gln-Gly-Pro10-Ile-Ala-Ser-Gln-Val-Arg- Arg-Gln-Phe- Leu20-Phe-Arg-Pro-Arg-Asn-NH2. This sequence shows five substitutions relative to pig neuromedin U-25. The primary structure of the second peptide (NMU-8) was established as: pGlu-Phe-Leu-Phe-Arg-Pro-Arg-Asn-NH2. The sequence contains the substitution pGlu for Tyr1 compared with pig neuromedin U-8. The potency of synthetic dog NMU-8 in contracting smooth muscle from the rat uterus (EC50 10 +/- 2 nM; mean +/- S.E., n = 6) was not significantly different from the corresponding potency of pig NMU-8 (EC50 16 +/- 5 nM) but the maximum response produced by the dog peptide was greater (58%; p less than 0.05) than that produced by pig NMU-8.