Synthetic corticotropin-releasing factor stimulates secretion of immunoreactive beta-endorphin/beta-lipotropin and ACTH by human fetal pituitaries in vitro.

Synthetic ovine CRF, in an amount approximating that found in pituitary portal plasma of the rat, induced a significant increase in the secretion of both ACTH and immunoreactive beta-endorphin/beta-LPH (i beta-END/LPH) by human fetal hemipituitaries in an in vitro superfusion system. This finding suggests that a molecule similar to synthetic ovine CRF may be a physiologic hypothalamic releasing factor in man.