The present communication is concerned with two substances possessing melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) activity, ar-MSH and /3-MSH, found in hog pituitary gland. The main component, o(-MSH, was isolated by a four-step process consisting of solvent extraction and fractional precipitation, oxycellulose adsorption, counter-current distribution, and paper electrophoresis. a-MSH has been found t...

Adrenocorticotropic hormone and alpha-, beta-, and gamma-melanocyte-stimulating hormones, collectively called melanocortin peptides, exert multiple effects upon the host. These effects range from modulation of fever and inflammation to control of food intake, autonomic functions, and exocrine secretions. Recognition and cloning of five melanocortin receptors (MCRs) has greatly improved understa...

When aqueous extract of bovine pituitary gland was fractionated by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), the effluent contained a prominent peak of melanotropic activity which did not correspond to amelanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), /?-MSH, adrenocorticotropic hormone, or p lipotropin. The novel factor (labeled “post-a-MSH”), responsible for onethird of the melanotropic activity in th...

alpha-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), a 13-amino acid peptide produced in the brain and pituitary gland, is a regulator of appetite and body weight, and its production is regulated by leptin, a factor that affects bone mass when administered centrally. alpha-MSH acts via melanocortin receptors. Humans deficient in melanocortin receptor 4 (MC4-R) have increased bone mass, and MC4-R h...

Melanocortin-1 (MC1) receptor is an attractive melanoma-specific target over-expressed on the surface of melanoma cells. Alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) peptide analogues can specifically bind MC1 receptors with nanomolar binding affinities, making alpha-MSH peptide analogues very promising candidates for developing effective melanoma-specific imaging probes. This review highli...

The alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) is a neuropeptide belonging to the melanocortin family. It is well known for its anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effects and shares several characteristics with antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). There have been some recent reports about the direct antimicrobial activity of α-MSH against various microbes belonging to both fungal and bacterial patho...

occur with some anticancer agents such as cyclophosphamide (Shah et al., 1975), 5-FU and nitrogen mustard (Moore and Meiselbaugh, 1975), and also with exposure to x-rays (Sutton, 1952; Inalshingh, 1972). Priestman and James (1975) reported 3 cases in which nail changes were possibly due to doxorubicin. They speculated that this drug has a selective hormone-suppressive action which might allow a...

We have examined the rate of synthesis and degradation of tyrosinase (monophenol, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine:oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.14.18.1), the critical enzyme involved in mammalian pigmentation, using pulse-chase metabolic labeling of murine melanoma cells and immunoprecipitation of protein extracts with antibodies directed specifically against the enzyme. We have found that tyrosinase ...