Effects of Chronic Ethanol Treatment on the In Vitro Biosynthesis of Pro‐Opiomelanocortin and ItsPosttranslational Processing to (β‐Endorphin in theIntermediate Lobe of the Rat Pituitary

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Abstract
Chronic treatment of rats with 15% (vol/vol) ethanol in tap water as their only source of liquid over a period of 3 weeks resulted in a strong decrease by almost 50% in tissue levels and in vitro release of immunoreactive β-endorphin of the neurointermediate pituitary. Moreover, the in vitro incorporation of [3H]phenylalanine into peptides of the neurointermediate pituitary, immunoprecipitable with β-endorphin antiserum, was found to be decreased by more than 30%. Analysis of β-endorphinrelated peptides on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that chronic ethanol treatment reduced the in vitro biosynthesis of the β-endorphin precursor pro-opiomelanocortin. This ethanol-induced effect was combined with a retardation in the time course of the posttranslational processing of the precursor into β-endorphin. Thus, chronic ethanol treatment may influence the activity of enzymes which process the opioid peptide precursor pro-opiomelanocortin, leading to a decreased formation of the final secretory product β-endorphin.

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