Molecular Pharmacology, Vol 4, 531-540, Copyright © 1968 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

A Possible Mechanism of Release of Posterior Pituitary Hormones Involving Adenosine Triphosphate and an Adenosine Triphosphatase in the Neurosecretory Granules

¹ Department of Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461

Neurosecretory granules were isolated from bovine posterior pituitary glands and incubated at 30 or 37° in a medium containing KCl and MgCl₂. On exposure to ATP the granules released vasopressin, oxytocin, and protein. Vasopressin release in response to ATP was potentiated by phosphoenolpyruvate + pyruvate kinase, was inhibited by AMP, and was accompanied by a fall in the optical density (at 540 mµ) of the granule suspension. The neurosecretory granules possessed ATPase activity and ATP. It is suggested that ATP and ATPase may participate in the release of hormones from the intact posterior pituitary gland.

Note:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This investigation was supported by United States Public Health Service Grants 5RO1-NB04006, 5RO1-NB-0l093, and 1-K3-GM-25,304. We thank Mr. A. Hooper and Mrs. R. Poisner for technical assistance.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Berl, S. Puszkin, and W. J. Nicklas Actomyosin-Like Protein in Brain: Actomyosin-like protein may function in the release of transmitter material at synaptic endings Science, February 2, 1973; 179(4072): 441 - 446. [PDF]