Immunoreactive beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormone in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma in hypopituitarism: evidence for an extrapituitary origin. |
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Authors: | S Shuster A Smith N Plummer A Thody F Clark |
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Abstract: | Immunoreactive beta-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (beta-MSH) was measured in the plasma of 19 patients with hypopituitarism and in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of five of these patients. In neither plasma nor CSF were the beta-MSH concentrations significantly different from those in normal controls. These observations raise the possibility that beta-MSH may be produced by and secreted from neural tissue; this is supported by the findings of beta-MSH in high concentrations in many parts of the brain. |
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