Allen R G, Orwoll E, Kendall J W, Herbert E, Paxton H
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 1980 Aug;51(2):376-80. doi: 10.1210/jcem-51-2-376.
To begin to define the nature of the biosynthesis and processing of ACTH and beta-endorphin in the human, anterior pituitary tissue (fresh normal and adenomatous, and autopsy) was extracted in acetic acid in the presence of protease inhibitors and subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The gel slice eluates were assayed for ACTH and beta-endorphin immunoactivity. Human anterior pituitary tissue contained four major size classes of ACTH and three major size classes of beta-endorphin. We found that in all tissue sources examined there was a virtual absence of 13-15K ACTH, which is a major form in the rat and mouse. When comparing extracts obtained from fresh normal or adenomatous anterior pituitary tissue, we also found a drastic decrease in beta-lipotropin and beta-endorphin in extracts of autopsy human anterior pituitaries. These results suggest that the biosynthesis and processing of pituitary ACTH and beta-endorphin in the human may be different than in the mouse, and because of apparent postmortem proteolysis of beta-endorphin, human pituitary obtained at autopsy is probably not a good source of material for biochemical studies of pituitary tissue.
为了初步确定人类促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）和β-内啡肽的生物合成及加工过程的性质，将垂体前叶组织（新鲜的正常组织、腺瘤组织以及尸检组织）在蛋白酶抑制剂存在的情况下用乙酸进行提取，然后进行十二烷基硫酸钠-聚丙烯酰胺凝胶电泳。对凝胶切片洗脱液进行ACTH和β-内啡肽免疫活性检测。人类垂体前叶组织含有四种主要大小类别的ACTH和三种主要大小类别的β-内啡肽。我们发现，在所检测的所有组织来源中，几乎不存在13 - 15K的ACTH，而这是大鼠和小鼠中的主要形式。在比较从新鲜正常或腺瘤性垂体前叶组织获得的提取物时，我们还发现尸检人类垂体前叶提取物中的β-促脂素和β-内啡肽大幅减少。这些结果表明，人类垂体ACTH和β-内啡肽的生物合成及加工过程可能与小鼠不同，并且由于β-内啡肽明显的死后蛋白水解作用，尸检获得的人类垂体可能不是垂体组织生化研究的良好材料来源。
