Somatostatin receptors.

It is now well established that the biological actions of tetradecapeptide somatostatin (somatostatin-14, S-14) are receptor-mediated. These receptors were first quantified in GH4C pituitary tumor cells using [125I-Tyr1] S-14 as radioligand which was found to exhibit high non-specific binding to membrane receptor preparations from normal tissues. Our studies have shown that [125I-Tyr11] S-14 in which the radiolabel is situated away from the N-terminus exhibits significantly lower non-specific binding and therefore is more suitable for S-14 receptor studies. In the CNS, highest concentration of S-14 receptors was found in the cerebral cortex, followed by thalamus, hypothalamus, striatum, amygdala and hippocampus while medulla-pons, cerebellum and spinal cord exhibited negligible binding. Outside the CNS membrane receptors for S-14 have been characterized in pituitary, adrenal cortex and pancreatic acini. In all these tissues a single class of high affinity binding sites for S-14 were present, the receptors in pancreatic acinar cells exhibiting significantly greater affinity for binding S-14 than in other tissues.