[Secretion of a beta lipotropine type substances by a corticomelanotropic adenoma in Nelson's syndrome (author's transl)].

Using radioimmunoassay of human melanotropic hormone (beta-MSH), were studied in one female patient with Nelson's syndrome the properties of the immunoreactive beta-MSH (beta-MSH-IR) secreted in the circulation in vitro by a pituitary adenoma. With Sephadex G-50 gel, beta-MSH-IR of plasma or from a culture mediium is eluted in greater part in a volume corresponding to a molecular weight of some 6,000 to 10,000. In the radioimmunological systems employed, the dilution curve of beta-MSH-IR in a culture medium is not parallel to that of synthetic human beta-MSH; by contrast, it is parallel to that a lipotropine, purified human beta-LPH.