High-Performance Liquid Chromatography of the Neuropeptides: the Endogenous Opioid Peptides

Abstract

The first evidence for the existence of peptides in neurones of the mammalian nervous system was for the hypothalamic “neurohormones”, oxytocin and vasopressin and thyrotropin releasing hormone, luteinising hormone releasing hormone and somatostatin (see Hughes, 1978; Burgen, Kosterlitz and Iversen, 1980; Gregory, 1982). In the last ten years, however, it has become apparent that peptide containing neurones are not confined to the magnocellular/tuberoinfundibular systems, and that these and other “neuropeptides” are widely distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems (Table 1). The list of peptides in Table 1 contains 38 of the best known “neuropeptides”, whose presence in neurones and/or nerve terminals is reasonably well established, but excludes the endogenous opioid peptides (Table 2); most of the peptides mentioned have likewise been found in the peripheral nervous system, or in the “gastroenteropancreatic and related endocrine system” (see Pearse, 1978; Hokfelt et al., 1980; Polak and Bloom, 1982; Gregory, 1982; Iversen, 1983; Iversen, 1984).