Enkephalin isolation

Neurotensin. This hormone has been isolated and characterized from acid—acetone extracts of bovine hypothalamus (118) on the basis of its hypotensive activity. Immunoreactive neurotensin is present in mammalian gut and is distributed throughout the central nervous system its highest concentration is in the hypothalamus and in the substantia gelatinosa of the spinal cord (119). Its overall brain distribution is not unlike that of enkephalin ( ) ... 

Enkephalins and Endorphins. Morphine (142), an alkaloid found in opium, was first isolated in the early nineteenth century and widely used in patent medicines of that eta. It is pharmacologically potent and includes analgesic and mood altering effects. Endogenous opiates, the enkephalins, endorphins, and dynotphins were identified in the mid-1970s (3,51) (see Opioids, endogenous). Enkephalins and endorphins ate Hsted in Table 9. 

At the time of the discovery of Met-enkephalin, its sequence was observed to be identical to that of residues 61—65 contained in the C-fragment of the pituitary hormone p-Hpotropin [12584-99-5] (p-LPH) (see Hormones), first isolated in 1964 (11). In 1976, the isolation of a larger peptide fragment, P-endorphin [60617-12-1] that also displayed opiate-like activity was reported (12). This peptide s 31-amino-acid sequence comprised residues 61—91 of P-LPH. Subsequentiy, another potent opioid peptide, dynorphin [72957-38-17, was isolated from pituitary (13). The first five amino acids (qv) of this 17-amino-acid peptide are identical to the Leu-enkephalin sequence (see Table 1). 

Delta receptors are relatively selective for two related penta-peptides, methionine enkephalin and leucine enkephalin (met- and leu-enkephalin), which were isolated from porcine brain (Hughes 1975). Both met- and leu-enkephalin inhibit electrically induced contractions of guinea pig ileum, an effect that mimics those effects seen with opioid drugs, and is naloxone reversible. The enkephalins are processed posttranslational ly from proenkephalin, and secreted from central and peripheral neurons and endocrine cells in the adrenal medulla. 

Ferric ion was immobilized on a Chelating Sepharose Fast Flow column preparatory to the separation of seven enkephalin-related phosphopep-tides.17 Non-phosphorylated peptides flowed through the column, and the bound fraction contained the product. The capacity of the column was found to be 23 pmol/mL by frontal elution analysis. Cupric ion was immobilized on Chelating Superose for the isolation of bovine serum albumin.18 Cupric ion was immobilized on a Pharmacia HiTrap column for the separation of Protein C from prothrombin, a separation that was used to model the subsequent apparently successful separation of Factor IX from prothrombin Factor IX activity of the eluate was, however, not checked.19 Imidazole was used as the displacement agent to recover p-galactosidase from unclarified homogenates injected onto a nickel-loaded IMAC column.20 Pretreatment with nucleases and cleaning in place between injections were required procedures. A sixfold purification factor was observed. 

Since the discovery of the enkephalins in 1975 [11] a large number of endogenous opioid peptides have been detected in mammals, and at present three distinct families of opioid peptides are known (for a review, See Ref. 12). These are the enkephalins, the endorphins (a-, (J-, and y-), and the dynorphins and neoendorphins. The recently discovered endomor-phins [13] also may represent endogenous opioid peptides. Peptides with opioid activity have also been isolated from tryptic digests of milk casein... 

The identification of the morphine receptor spurred an effort in many laboratories to find an endogenous agonist for which that receptor was normally intended. Ultimately, a pair of pentapeptides that bound quite tightly to opiate receptors were isolated from mammalian brains. These peptides, called enkephalins (2, 3), show many of the activities of synthetic opiates in isolated organ systems. They do in fact show analgesic activity when injected directly into the brain. It is thought that lack of activity by other routes of administration is due to their rapid inactivation by peptide cleaving enzymes. 

Dynorphin, a-neoendorphin and /1-endorphin each produced a dose-dependent (10 6 M to 10 4 M) release of histamine from rat peritoneal mast cells but not from rat mucosal mast cells which were isolated following collagenase digestion [128]. When administered intradermally to the forearms of human volunteers, dynorphin, /f-endorphin, Leu-enkephalin and morphiceptin each produced a wheal and flare reaction at nM concentrations. Mast cell degranulation was confirmed by electron microscopy of biopsy samples and by its inhibition by hyroxyzine pretreatment [129]. 

Gillespie MN, Krechniak JW, Crooks PA, Altiere RJ, Olson IW (1985) Pulmonary metabolism of exogenous enkephalins in isolated perfused rat lungs. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 232 675-681. 

The authors investigated the utility of the dendritic resin (59) by synthesizing the hexapeptide Leu-Enkephaline-Lys. Cleavage was performed with 95% TEA/ water and the final product was isolated in 66% yield. 

The isolation of such endogenous opiates was reported simultaneously by four laboratories those of Goldstein in Palo Alto, Hughes in Aberdeen, Snyder in Baltimore, and Terenius in Uppsala. Acetone extracts of pig, calf, and rat brains yielded, after purification, two pentapeptides, called enkephalins, with the structures NHj-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met-COOH (5.83, Met-enkephalin) and NHj-Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu-COOH (5.84, Leu-enkephalin). These are present in a 4 1 ratio in pig brain but in a 1 4 ratio in cattle... 

Sequence Determination of the Brain Peptide Leucine Enkephalin A group of peptides that influence nerve transmission in certain parts of the brain has been isolated from normal brain tissue. These peptides are known as opioids, because they bind to specific receptors that also bind opiate drugs, such as morphine and naloxone. Opioids thus mimic some of the properties of opiates. Some researchers consider these peptides to be the brain s own pain killers. Using the information below, determine the amino acid sequence of the opioid leucine enkephalin. Explain how your structure is consistent with each piece of information. 

The occurrence of a variety of neuropeptides in the brain has been discussed in Section A. The first of these to be discovered811 was the 11-residue substance P (Table 30-4), which was isolated in 1931. Like other neuropeptides it may function either as a transmitter or neuromodulator or perhaps both. Substance P, as well as many other neuropeptides, has been localized to specific neurons. Along with somatostatin, CCK, and enkephalins, it is found in high concentrations in the basal ganglia. Enkephalin and substance P are also found in specific neural elements in the visual system of lobsters.812 In some cases a neuron contains both synaptic vesicles containing a major neurotransmitter and also vesicles containing a peptide or other cotrans-mittor. The peptide pituitary hormones ACTH, MSH, and vasopressin as well as the hypothalamic neurohormones may have effects on learning and behavior.813... 

Bunnett, N.W., et al. 1988. Isolation of endopeptidase-24.11 (EC 3.4.24.11, enkephalinase ) from the pig stomach. Hydrolysis of substance P, gastrin-releasing peptide 10, [Leu5] enkephalin, and [Met5] enkephalin. Gastroenterology 95 952. 

The first endogenous ligands for the opioid receptors were isolated by Kosterlitz and Hughes and were found to be the pentapeptides methionine and leucine enkephalin (meta- and leu-enkephalin). The structures of these,... 

Most studies of the local actions of opioids on the intestinal mucosa have utilized muscle-stripped sheets of ileal mucosa with attached submucosa mounted in Ussing flux chambers. Peptidase-resistant enkephalin derivatives such as DPDPE decrease short-circuit current, an electrical measure of active transepithelial ion transport, across isolated mucosal sheets from the guinea pig ileum [46,127,128], rabbit ileum [129-131], mouse jejunum [132], and pig distal jejunum/ileum [133]. This effect, which occurs after the application of opioid agonists to the serosal aspect of epithelial sheets, is due to an increase in electroneutral salt absorption and a decrease in electrogenic chloride secretion [46,132,133], In contrast to enkephalin derivatives, opiate alkaloids have limited effects on active transepithelial transport of ions [69]. Pretreat-... 

In 1975 Goldstein et al.50,51) isolated dynorphin 26, which is 700 times as effective as Leu-enkephalin, from porcine pituitaries. 

The analgesically active dipeptide kyotorphin Tyr-Arg55), which supposedly causes secretion of Met-enkephalin, was isolated from bovine hypothalamus in 1979 by Takagi et al., as was the pentapeptide neo-kyotorphin (NIC) Thr-Ser-Lys-Tyr-Arg 56) in 1982. 

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