Dopaminergic agents differentially alter beta-endorphin processing patterns in the rat pituitary neurointermediate lobe.

We have established the content and molecular species of immunoreactive beta-endorphin (ir-beta-END) and immunoreactive N-acetyl-endorphin (ir-Nac-END) in rat neurointermediate lobe by specific radioimmunoassay (RIA) and high-performance liquid chromatography after chronic administration of dopamine (DA) agonists and antagonists. The DA agonist, bromocriptine, reduces tissue levels of all major immunoreactive species, in particular the C-terminally shortened N-acetylated forms. The DA antagonist, haloperidol, proportionally increases all immunoreactive forms, except Nac-beta-END, thus altering the relative abundance of this species. These data indicate that DA is involved in the control of both tissue levels and processing of beta-END-like peptides in the rat neurointermediate lobe.