Pituitary extracts

The posterior lobe of the pituitary, ie, the neurohypophysis, is under direct nervous control (1), unlike most other endocrine organs. The hormones stored in this gland are formed in hypothalamic nerve cells but pass through nerve stalks into the posterior pituitary. As early as 1895 it was found that pituitrin [50-57-7] an extract of the posterior lobe, raises blood pressure when injected (2), and that Pitocin [50-56-6] (Parke-Davis) causes contractions of smooth muscle, especially in the utems (3). Isolation of the active materials involved in these extracts is the result of work from several laboratories. Several highly active posterior pituitary extracts have been discovered (4), and it has been deterrnined that their biological activities result from peptide hormones, ie, low molecular weight substances not covalendy linked to proteins (qv) (5). 

The thyreotropic hormone166 from pituitary extracts appeared to be an entity separate from the luteinizing hormone and contained nitrogen, 13% carbohydrate, 3.5% and D-glucosamine, 2.5%. 

The use of hGH extracted from the pituitaries of deceased human donors came to an abrupt end in 1985, when a link between treatment and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD, a rare, but fatal, neurological disorder) was discovered. In this year, a young man who had received hGH therapy some 15 years previously died from CJD, which, investigators concluded, he had contracted from infected pituitary extract (CJD appears to be caused by a prion). At least an additional 12 CJD cases suspected of being caused in the same way have subsequently been documented. Fortunately, several recombinant hGH (rhGH) preparations were coming onstream at that time (Table 8.8), and now all hGH preparations used clinically are derived from recombinant sources. Currently, in excess of 20 000 people are in receipt of rhGH therapy. 

P-FSH Porcine pituitary extract Enriched FSH extract. Contains lower levels of LH and other pituitary proteins. Used to induce superovulatory response in animals... 

P-LH Porcine pituitary extract Used to induce ovulation in super-ovulated animals... 

POMC peptides derived from rat pituitary extracts prolactin-releasing peptides in the bovine hypothalamic extract pseudechetoxin, a peptide blocker of cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels pseudo-peptide analogues of thiol proteinase inhibitors relaxin-like molecule from the male atlantic stingray, Dasyatis sabina... 

There has been one previous report of acanthosis nigricans in a woman who received human pituitary extract (62). This condition is usually seen in hyperinsulinemic states, including diabetes mellitus and acromegaly over-stimulation at the IGF-I receptor is probably the final common pathway. 

Gerbilsky (1941) suggested the injection of pituitary extract as a means of accelerating the maturation of female sturgeons, and the method is still in use (Kazansky, 1963 Barannikova, 1984). 

Growth hormone 16 Evaluate Abs in children treated with rh-GH and met-GH 46 GH-deficient children treated for at least 12 months (20 naive and 26 previous treatment with pituitary extracted GH) RIA Abs generated in 75% of treatment naive group within 1 year 12% of the pretreated group (only in the second year). Abs remained through duration of treatment with met-GH, but decreased and eventually become undetectable in subjects receiving rh-GH. Abs did not affect clinical efficacy... 

The most common alteration that cells exhibit upon cultivation in culture is the loss of differentiated function. This is a consequence of the conflicting need to enhance cell proliferation to provide adequate experimental material. Differentiated function of a particular cell type is partly determined by interaction with other cell types and noncellular tissue constituents these are lost upon isolation and traditional cell monoculture. Also, undefined biological materials such as fetal calf serum, pituitary extract, and so on, are routinely added to cell culture because they have been shown empirically to have mitogenic effects, but they also have often unappreciated effects on other cellular functions. With regard to toxicokinetics, one of the most challenging problems is relating effective toxicant concentrations in cell culture to that in vivo (Section 8.7). 

The source of glutaminyl cyclase was bovine pituitaries. Extracts were partially purified by ammonium sulfate fractionation and chromatography on Sephacryl S-300. 

Proteolysis. The polarographic proof of proteolysis and the estimation of some proteolytic enzymes by means of the increase of the polarographic activity of hydrolysed proteins are described on p. 267. In this part, we should mention another method of following the proteolytic activity. Some polypeptides yield high polarographic catalytic waves in the Brdicka cobalt(III) solution (see p. 265). However, the products of their hydrolysis are polarographically much less active in cobalt (III) solution (see p. 265). In such a manner, the influence of serum of pregnant women on the hydrolysis of protein pituitary extract and on oxytocin and vasopressin was measured [178,179]. 

Friedman, S. M., Friedman, C. L., "Effects of Posterior Pituitary Extracts... 

Chlorobutanol is primarily used in ophthalmic or parenteral dosage forms as an antimicrobial preservative at concentrations up to 0.5% w/v see Section 10. It is commonly used as an antibacterial agent for epinephrine solutions, posterior pituitary extract solutions, and ophthalmic preparations intended for the treatment of miosis. It is especially useful as an antibacterial agent in nonaqueous formulations. Chlorobutanol is also used as a preservative in cosmetics [see Section 16) as a plasticizer for cellulose esters and ethers and has been used therapeutically as a mild sedative and local analgesic. 

Schedule D contains drugs of biological (animal or human) origin. Products covered by this division are vaccines, bacteriophages, toxins and toxoids, antitoxins, antisera, human plasma components, insulin, anterior pituitary extracts and anticoagulants. 

Anion Exchange of DEAE-Cellulose. When employed at a pH above the isoelectric point of the gonadotropins and at low ionic strength, it has been shown that DEAE-cellulose, used either batchwise or in column chromatography, adsorbs most of the FSH from a pituitary extract, and leaves most of the LH unabsorbed. 

With the possible exception of the effects of pituitary extracts in the rabbit, there is no evidence that tissues other than the thyroid and parathyroid glands can store or secrete calcium-regulating hormones. 

C39. Cuthbertson, D. P., Shaw, G. B., and Young, F. G., The anterior pituitary gland and protein metabolism. 3. The influence of anterior pituitary extract on the rate of wound healing. J. Endocrinol. 2, 475-478 (1940-1941). 

K2. Kirkham, K. E., A new bioassay technique for the measurement in vitro of thyrotropic hormone in serum and pituitary extracts. J. Endocrinol. 26, 259-269 (1962). 

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