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Mass spectrometric analysis of opioid and tachykinin neuropeptides in non‐secreting and ACTH‐secreting human pituitary adenomas
Author(s) -
Desiderio Dominic M.,
Kusmierz Jozef J.,
Zhu Xuegong,
Dass Chhabil,
Hilton Donald,
Robertson James T.,
Sacks Harold S.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
biological mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 1052-9306
DOI - 10.1002/bms.1200220112
Subject(s) - proopiomelanocortin , medicine , endocrinology , proenkephalin , neuropeptide , radioimmunoassay , pituitary gland , pituitary tumors , chemistry , corticotropic cell , opioid peptide , biology , hormone , opioid , receptor
In a study to test the hypothesis that defects in the metabolism of neuropeptides might be a contributing factor to human anterior pituitary tumor formation, the proenkephalin A, proopiomelanocortin (POMC), and tachykinin systems, which produce methionine enkephalin (ME), β‐endorphin (BE), and substance P (SP), respectively, were measured in patients who had a wide variety of pituitary tumors. Mass spectrometry was used to optimize the level of molecular specificity of the ME and BE analytical measurements, and radioimmunoassay was used to measure SP‐like immunoreactivity (SP‐li). Compared to data obtained from pituitaries from post‐mortem controls, the non‐secreting tumors contained a significantly lower amount of the POMC neuropeptide, BE. The lower ME level was not significant. However, two adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH)‐secreting tumors contained ME, BE, and SP‐li amounts that were much higher than both the controls and nonsecreting tumors. These data suggest that a hypometabolism of the POMC precursor may be operating in non‐secreting tumors, and that a hypermetabolism of the proenkephalin A, POMC, and tachykinin precursors may be operating in two ACTH‐secreting tumors. These data demonstrate that mass spectrometry plays a critical role in the study of human pituitary tumors.