A multicatalytical protease complex from pituitary that forms enkephalin and enkephalin containing peptides

Narian Orlowski, Sherwin Wilk

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127 Scopus citations

Abstract

The pituitary contains a high molecular weight (M.W.∼700,000) neutral endopeptidase complex that behaves in solution as a single protein, but on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under dissociating conditions shows the presence of five components with molecular weights of 24,000 to 28,000. The complex exhibits trypsinlike, chymotrypsinlike and peptidylglutamyl-peptide bond hydrolysing activities. Experiments indicate that each of these activities is associated with a separate component of the complex. The chymotrypsinlike and trypsinlike activities efficiently generate Leu-enkephalin, Leu-enkephalin-Arg6 and Leu-enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 from a single synthetic precursor. Selective inhibition of the chymotrypsinlike activity enhances the trypsinlike activity and alters the relative proportion of opioid peptides formed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)814-822
Number of pages9
JournalBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume101
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Aug 1981
Externally publishedYes

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