EXPRESSION OF MESSENGER RIBONUCLEIC-ACIDS ENCODING NEUROPEPTIDE-Y, SUBSTANCE-P, AND VASOACTIVE INTESTINAL POLYPEPTIDE IN HUMAN PITUITARY

The local production of autocrine or paracrine agents in endocrine tissues represents an important level of hormonal regulation. The synthesis of neuropeptide-Y (NPY), substance-P (SP), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) in the rat anterior pituitary gland has been well demonstrated. We have now studied their expression in human postmortem pituitary tissue. Northern blot analysis of poly(A)+ RNA from whole human pituitaries revealed mRNA encoding the precursors for NPY, SP, and VIP whose hybridization characteristics were indistinguishable from those of the same mRNAs described in previously characterized human tissues. VIP mRNA was detectable in all samples tested, with NPY and preprotachykinin-A mRNA (which encodes SP) detectable in a subset of the pituitaries. The concentration of immunoreactive NPY in whole human pituitary was 3.8 +/- 1.1 pmol/g wet wt in males and 2.9 +/- 0.5 pmol/g wet wt in females (mean +/- SEM; n = 10), that of SP was 3.1 +/- 0.4 pmol/g wet wt in males and 5.2 +/- 1.3 pmol/g wet wt in females (n = 10), and that of VIP was 8.1 +/- 2.9 pmol/g wet wt in males and 5.3 +/- 1.6 pmol/g wet wt in females (n = 10). Size-fractionation of pituitary extracts by gel permeation chromatography revealed single peaks of NPY and VIP-like immunoreactivity in the positions of the standards, while SP-like immunoreactivity mostly eluted in the position of synthetic SP, with two minor immunoreactive peaks eluting earlier. The low levels of NPY, SP, and VIP and their mRNAs in the human pituitary are consistent with peptides having an autocrine/paracrine, rather than endocrine, mode of action.