Ten polypeptides that stimulated the release of corticotropin from superfused rat pituitary cells and that are structurally related to porcine corticotropin-releasing factor were isolated from porcine hypothalami. The purification was carried out by gel filtration followed by reversed-phase HPLC using trifluoroacetic acid or heptafluorobutyric acid as the ion-pairing agent in water/acetonitrile...

1. Avian corticotropin (ACTH) was purified from both fresh and aged pituitary glands of the ostrich Struthio camelus. 2. The isolation of corticotropin in pure form involved acid/acetone extraction, NaCl fractionation, CM-cellulose chromatography and Sephadex G-50 chromatography. 3. The hormone preparations from fresh and aged glands behaved as single substances on polyacrylamide-gel electropho...

Purified alpha-corticotropin has been reported to exercise the following biological effects: (a) stimulation of the adrenal glands in normal and hypophysectomized rats, (b) production of blood eosinopenia in hypophysectomized rats, (c) maintenance of muscle glycogen in hypophysectomized rats, (d) inhibition of growth-promoting activity of somatotropin, (e) stimulation of melanocytes in the skin...

In teleosts, changes in swimming, exploring, general locomotor activity, and anxious state can be a response to stress mediated by the corticotropin-releasing hormone system activation and its effects on glucocorticoid levels. Zebrafish has been widely used to study neuropharmacology and has become a promising animal model to investigate neurobehavioral mechanisms of stress. In this report the ...

The discovery of a 41-amino acid peptide with potent corticotropin-releasing factor properties has prompted a search for neurons that contain this substance and potentially utilize it in intercellular communication. The present study utilized immunohistochemical methods and an antiserum directed against a synthetic replica of ovine corticotropin-releasing factor. The rat hypothalamus was found ...

We compared the activity and responsiveness of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis of an urban (Phoenix, Arizona) and desert population of a male songbird species (Curve-billed Thrasher, Toxostoma curvirostre), by measuring plasma corticosterone in response to acute administration of corticotropin-releasing factor, arginine vasotocin, or adrenocorticotropin hormone. Urban adult male th...

OB (leptin) has been identified as a factor that suppresses appetite and stimulates metabolism. Attention has focused on the hypothalamus as its potential site of action, but OB could also act on other brain regions. In addition, the paradox of high OB levels in obese humans remains unresolved. Here we show in mice that both the long and short form of the OB receptor are expressed not only in t...

Corticotropin, which may be defined as a pituitary extract that will directly stimulate the adrenal cortex to secrete its predominantly "glucocorticoid" hormones, has been in general use for about 5 years. In spite of this, its use as a therapeutic agent has not been defined. There are two reasons for this state of affairs. The first is that most physicians have assumed that the administration ...

Recently, novel corticotropin-releasing factor-related peptides, named urocortin 1, 2, and 3, and a distinct cardiac and peripheral vascular receptor (corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 2) were described being part of a peripheral corticotropin-releasing factor system modulating cardiovascular function in response to stress. Vasorelaxation and blood pressure lowering have been reported aft...

A new melanocyte-stimulating peptide has been isolated from acid extracts of frozen human pituitary glands by salt/ethanol fractionation, Sephadex G-75 gel filtration and DEAE- and cM-cellulose ion-exchange chromatography. The peptide is glycosylated, has an N-terminal tryptophan residue and an apparent mol.wt. of 16000 as estimated by sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis....