Thymopoietin and thymopentin enhance the levels of ACTH, β-endorphin and β-lipotropin from rat pituitary cells in vitro
Abstract. Thymopoietin and thymopentin are well characterized polypeptides influencing immunoregulation by several mechanisms. Proposed as a therapy in diseases with major immune abnormalities such as rheumatoid arthritis, thymopentin improved within 2 weeks some clinical parameters as pain and joint swelling. The hypothesis that this spectacular effect could be mediated through interactions with anti-inflammatory (ACTH) and pain relieving (β-endorphin) hormones producing cells was tested on the rat isolated pituitary cell model. Thymopentin and thymopoietin can enhance in vitro the levels of ACTH, β-endorphin and β-lipotropin in a time- and dose-dependent fashion for physiological concentrations ranging from 10−12 to 10−8 mol/l. The action on pituitary cells was restricted to those molecules as no changes occurred in LH, FSH, GH, TSH and PRL levels, after otherwise identical experimental conditions.