EVIDENCE THAT PROTEASE INHIBITORS REDUCE THE DEGRADATION OF PARATHYROID-HORMONE AND CALCITONIN INJECTED SUBCUTANEOUSLY

Agents known to delay absorption from a subcutaneous site were tested in chicks for their ability to prolong the hypercalcaemic response to parathyroid hormone (PTH). Polyvinylpyrrolidone was found to enhance the response but gelatine greatly reduced the 2 h hypercalcaemia. The reduction by gelatine was reversed when the protease inhibitor aprotinin was added to the injection vehicle, and hypercalcaemia then persisted for more than 8 h. Of other protease inhibitors studied, e‐aminocaproic acid was also found to enhance the hypercalcaemic response to subcutaneous PTH and its fragments but, unlike aprotinin, it was ineffective in the presence of gelatine. By radioimmunoassay and bioassay respectively, it was confirmed that aprotinin raised circulating levels of PTH and also of another peptide hormone, calcitonin, injected subcutaneously. Addition of calcium to the solutions injected subcutaneously abolished the hypercalcaemic response to PTH while injection of calcium and PTH simultaneously but at separate sites left the response unaltered. The two protease inhibitors, e‐aminocaproic acid and aprotinin, each restored the response to subcutaneous PTH despite the presence of calcium at the injection site. It was concluded that protease inhibitors injected subcutaneously with PTH and calcitonin in the chick reduced the rate of degradation of these hormones and that the proteases responsible for hormone degradation at the subcutaneous injection site may be released or activated by calcium ions. 1979 British Pharmacological Society