The effect of beta-endorphin on basal and TRH-stimulated TSH release in conscious male rats

The effects of opioids and opioid analogs on animal and human endocrine systems

Opioid abuse has increased in the last decade, primarily as a result of increased access to prescription opioids. Physicians are also increasingly administering opioid analgesics for noncancer chronic pain. Thus, knowledge of the long-term consequences of opioid use/abuse has important implications for fully evaluating the clinical usefulness of opioid medications. Many studies have examined the effect of opioids on the endocrine system; however, a systematic review of the endocrine actions of opioids in both humans and animals has, to our knowledge, not been published since 1984. Thus, we reviewed the literature on the effect of opioids on the endocrine system. We included both acute and chronic effects of opioids, with the majority of the studies done on the acute effects although chronic effects are more physiologically relevant. In humans and laboratory animals, opioids generally increase GH and prolactin and decrease LH, testosterone, estradiol, and oxytocin. In humans, opioids increase TSH, whereas in rodents, TSH is decreased. In both rodents and humans, the reports of effects of opioids on arginine vasopressin and ACTH are conflicting. Opioids act preferentially at different receptor sites leading to stimulatory or inhibitory effects on hormone release. Increasing opioid abuse primarily leads to hypogonadism but may also affect the secretion of other pituitary hormones. The potential consequences of hypogonadism include decreased libido and erectile dysfunction in men, oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea in women, and bone loss or infertility in both sexes. Opioids may increase or decrease food intake, depending on the type of opioid and the duration of action. Additionally, opioids may act through the sympathetic nervous system to cause hyperglycemia and impaired insulin secretion. In this review, recent information regarding endocrine disorders among opioid abusers is presented.

The autocrine/paracrine regulation of thyrotropin secretion

Peptides originally described in other tissues have been located in the anterior pituitary gland. Detection of their encoding mRNAs and specific receptors, together with demonstration of peptide local action led to the postulation of the existence of a paracrine/autocrine regulation of pituitary function. Direct evidence for the role of endogenous peptides has come from studies aiming to block their action through immunoneutralization or pharmacologic blockade. Here we review evidence of pituitary produced peptides as potential candidates as local regulators of thyrotropin secretion. Few studies have approached the subject and most data are not conclusive. Until now, the most consistent data relate to neuromedin B, a bombesin-like peptide. The combined observation of high peptide concentration in rat thyrotrophs, the ability of the exogenous peptide to inhibit thyrotropin (TSH) release in physiologic doses plus the effect of the specific neuromedin B antiserum to increase basal TSH release from isolated pituitaries suggest that neuromedin B acts as a constitutive autocrine TSH-release inhibitor. Neuromedin B is upregulated by thyroid hormones and downregulated by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) that is consistent with proposed role of local factors, namely to partially mediate or modulate the effects of hormones on pituitary function. However, future studies will certainly confirm other candidates as local regulators of TSH secretion, as well as their relevance at physiologic and pathologic conditions.

Interference of immunoglobulins in the radioimmunoassay of human beta-endorphin

The interference of immunoglobulins in the radioimmunoassay (RIA) of human beta-endorphin was investigated. Human IgM showed no cross-reactivity. Human IgA showed a weak cross-reaction, but the dilution curve of IgA did not show parallelism with the standard curve of beta-endorphin, thus indicating its antigenic difference. The dilution curves of human IgG showed 0.18% displacement with respect to the human beta-endorphin standard curve, with good parallelism. Moreover, five patients with multiple myeloma of the IgG type showed falsely elevated beta-endorphin levels. We investigated the possibility that certain IgGs may be responsible for the displacement of [125I]beta-endorphin in the beta-endorphin kit. The apparent beta-endorphin level of plasma from multiple myeloma patients was markedly decreased after affinity chromatography of the serum on protein A-Sepharose. In another 3 patients with multiple myeloma, we examined IgG interference by measuring the beta-endorphin levels in their lyophilized IgG diluted with saline. The results demonstrated high values of 20.2, 25.5 and 21.2 pmol/l respectively, also showing good parallelism. These immunological parallels to human beta-endorphin verify that a part of the amino acid sequence of human IgG is similar to that of human beta-endorphin. Consequently, in the measurement of beta-endorphin with polyclonal antibody, the results may sometimes be spuriously high due to cross-reaction with IgG, e.g., in patients with IgG myeloma. To avoid IgG interference, a specific monoclonal antibody to synthetic beta-endorphin should be used rather than polyclonal antibodies.