Physiology of β-endorphins. A close-up view and a review of the literature
| Autor: | S. Bergal, J.F. Dalayeun, J. M. Nores |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1993 |
| Předmět: |
endocrine system
medicine.medical_specialty Pain Physiology Biology Neurotransmission Ion Channels chemistry.chemical_compound Dopamine Internal medicine medicine Humans Endorphins Neurotransmitter Pharmacology Behavior Neurotransmitter Agents Voltage-dependent calcium channel beta-Endorphin General Medicine Electrophysiology Endocrinology chemistry hormones hormone substitutes and hormone antagonists Acetylcholine medicine.drug |
| Zdroj: | Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 47:311-320 |
| ISSN: | 0753-3322 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/0753-3322(93)90080-5 |
| Popis: | When an endogenous morphine, beta-endorphin was discovered ten years ago, the fact that this morphine is present in the brain and many other tissues suggested to neurobiologists that these peptide opiates play a role which goes beyond that of a simple modulator of the perception of pain. beta-endorphin is a neurohormone which is secreted by the pituitary gland and reaches all tissues present in the body by diffusion. Many laboratories have investigated variations in serum levels of beta-endorphin under widely varying physiological or pathological conditions. Many references to these studies in the literature have thus demonstrated that beta-endorphins play a role in certain behavioural patterns (stress, alcoholism), in obesity, diabetes and psychiatric diseases. In fact, the activity of beta-endorphins would appear to have an interesting role to play and are a promising feature in the treatment of cerebral aging; in this field, beta-endorphins act not only as neuroregulators of other neurotransmitting substances but also, via calcium channels, exert an effect on the walls of cerebral arterioles. In situ, the role of beta-endorphins at the ionic channel level has been studied using the patch-clamp technique. In 1991, E Neher and B Sakmann received the Nobel Medicine and Physiology Prize for this work. beta-endorphin, which may be the "missing link" between the neuron and the wall of the arteriole, must be considered as being a fundamental neurotransmitter in the same way as well-known substances such as noradrenaline, acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine and the GABAergic system are also neurotransmitters. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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