HPLC analysis of somatostatin related peptides in putamen of Huntington's disease patients.

Size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography of post mortem human putamen samples revealed three somatostatin-immunoreactive peaks. The two major peaks cochromatographed with synthetic somatostatin-14 and somatostatin-28, respectively whereas the presumed somatostatin precursor preceded these peaks. In 11 samples obtained post mortem from patients suffering from Huntington's Disease somatostatin-like immunoreactivity was increased by about 55% in the mean. This increase was mainly due to increases in somatostatin-14 and--to a minor extent--of somatostatin-28, whereas the presumed precursor was not significantly changed.