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Des-acetyl-α-MSH and not α-MSH is the major form of α-MSH in amniotic fluid

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Abstract

Immunoreactive or-melanocyte stimulating hormone (IR-or-MSH)-like activity was measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) in at term pregnancy amniotic fluid prior and after adsorption on a Sep-pak C18 cartridge. a-MSH activity was 3—4 times lower after Sep-pak purification but, unlike the levels of IR-α-MSH in the fluid analyzed in toto, increased linearly with the volume of fluid analyzed. Furthermore, fractionation by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed that IR-α-MSH recovered from the Sep-pak was due to several peptides rather than to a single peptide. The most abundant of them (50% of total activity) behaved like authentic des-acetyl-α-MSH. Since des-acetyl-α-MSH is also the most abundant α-MSH-like peptide in the fetal pituitary gland, the present results suggest that the fetal pituitary is a main source of des-acetyl-α-MSH in the amniotic fluid.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Università di Cagliari, Via Porcell 4, 09124, Cagliari, Italy

    A. Mauri,  Antonio Argiolas, M. R. Melis, L. Lai, W. Fratta & G. L. Gessa

  2. lstituto di Clinica Ostetrica e Ginecologica, Università.Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 00147, Roma

    A. Caruso, A. Lanzone & S. Mancuso

  3. lstituto di Clinica Ostetrica e Ginecologica, Università di Cagliari, 09124, Cagliari, Italy

    F. Serri & F. Caminiti

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  1. A. Mauri
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  2. Antonio Argiolas
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  3. M. R. Melis
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  4. L. Lai
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  5. W. Fratta
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  7. A. Lanzone
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Mauri, A., Argiolas, A., Melis, M.R. et al. Des-acetyl-α-MSH and not α-MSH is the major form of α-MSH in amniotic fluid. J Endocrinol Invest 11, 345–349 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03349052

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03349052

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