Indole and oligopeptide fractions of rat pineal gland tissue with osmotic stress

Abstract

The paper deals with peptide formation in the epiphysis during daylight hours when the metabolic activity of pinealocytes, which is associated with the synthesis of indoamines (melatonin), is not high, and the changes in this gland's secretion of other agents, par­ticularly those of peptide nature are in the foreground. The high stress-protective activity of epiphyseal peptide hormones and the successful experience in their clinical use made a study of the involvement of the epiphysis, along with the hypothalomopituitary system, into the common adaptation syndrome highly promising. The epiphyseal peptide extracts from intact rats and from the rats exposed to 48-hour water and food deprivation were studied, by using high performance liquid chromatography. Under stress, there was a higher epiphyseal serotonin production, which was associated by the authors with the corticosterone-induced decrease in the activity of N-acetyl transferase, as well as an increase in the fraction of high molecular-weight peptides. Moreover, the elevated levels of vasopressin were recorded in the epiphysis under stress, which is likely to be of regulatory value.