Persistence of β-Endorphin in Human Cerebrospinal Fluid after Hypophysectomy*

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Abstract
β-Endorphin immunoactivity was measured in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 13 patients with metastatic cancer 1 day before and 5 days after complete transsphenoidal hypophysectomy. Properatively, mean β-endorphinlike immunoactivity in plasma was 18.2 ± 3.5 pg/ml (SEM) and in CSF 32.3 ± 6.3 pg/ml. No correlation was noted between the concentration of β-endorphin in plasma and CSF. Postoperatively, plasma β-endorphin was undetectable (β-endorphin was detectable in 10 of the 13 patients postoperatively, with a mean of 14.0 ± 2.2 pg/ml. Chromatography on Sephadex G-50 of CSF extracts pooled from 3 patients after hypophysectomy showed that the majority of β-endorphin immunoactivity eluted in the same position as synthetic human β-endorphin. We conclude that β-endorphin becomes undetectable in plasma after hypophysectomy in patients receiving exogenous glucocorticoid replacement but remains detectable in significant amounts in CSF. It appears, therefore, that a considerable portion of the β-endorphin in CSF is of nonpituitary origin, most likely resulting from synthesis and secretion of this peptide by brain directly into the CSF.

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