[Radioimmunological assay of plasma levels of alpha-gamma-endorphins in healthy donors and patients with endogenous depression].

Radioimmunological procedure enabled to estimate alpha- and gamma-endorphins in human blood plasma without pre-extraction. Basal level of these neuropeptides in peripheric blood plasma of 18 healthy donors constituted: C alpha = 392 +/- 244 pg/ml and C gamma = 20.6 +/- 9.1 pg/ml. Content of these endorphins in blood plasma did not depend on age and sex. Concentration of alpha- and gamma-endorphins were shown to correlate in peripheric blood (r = 0.88); this suggests the overall mechanisms for regulation of their synthesis, secretion and degradation. At the same time, distinct differences in concentrations of alpha- and gamma-endorphins in blood plasma were not found in groups of healthy donors and of patients with endogenous psychoses and pronounced depressive symptoms.