Purification from Brain of Synenkephalin, the N‐Terminal Fragment of Proenkephalin

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Abstract
The primary sequence of adrenal proenkephalin was recently deduced from the structure of the cloned [complement] cDNA that codes for this protein. Several enkephalin-containing proteins with MW between 8000 and 20,000 daltons were purified from the bovine adrenal medulla. These proteins appear to represent intermediates in the processing of proenkephalin into physiologically active opioid peptides. While the concentrations of these large processing intermediates in the adrenal medulla are quite high, similar proteins have not yet been shown to be present in brain. There is some question as to whether the brain synthesizes an enkephalin precursor similar to adrenal proenkephalin. The purification from bovine caudate nucleus of synenkephalin, the N-terminal fragment of adrenal proenkephalin, is reported. The amino acid composition of synenkephalin indicated that the protein represents residues 1-70 of adrenal proenkephalin. The brain and adrenal glands appear to utilize a similar precursor for enkephalin biosynthesis.

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