Opioid peptide profile in human pituitary.

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Abstract
The comprehensive metabolic profile of endogenous opioid peptides is established here for human pituitary for the first time. Sixteen human pituitaries, obtained postmortem, were analyzed individually by gradient reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography together with a radio-receptor assay with [3H]etorphine as ligand. This combination was used to detect opioid receptor activity. The 16 assay profiles were sufficiently consistent for a composite of them to serve as a comparative basis for other studies on the pathophysiology of the human pituitary. To demonstrate one selected comparison, we present data on a distinctively different profile of opioid receptor activity in the pituitary of one patient who died from a drug overdose.