Elevated Plasma Levels of Opioid Peptides and Delta Sleep-Inducing Peptide but Not of Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone in Patients Receiving Chronic Hemodialysis

Abstract

The fasting plasma levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), delta sleep-inducing peptide (DSIP), β-endorphin (β-END), methionine-enkephalin (m-ENK), β-lipotropin (β-LPH), and α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) were measured by radioimmunoassay in 22 stable patients with chronic renal failure on regular hemodialysis treatment and compared with those of 10 healthy controls. The plasma concentrations of DSIP, β-END, m-ENK, β-LPH, and α-MSH were increased. The plasma level of CRH was not different from that of the controls. The elevated plasma levels of endogenous opioid peptides and DSIP may contribute to the uremic syndrome, although this must be further elucidated.

Search for peptidic “middle molecules” in uremic sera: isolation and chemical identification of fibrinogen fragments

“…These include parathyroid hormone [1,7], ␤-2 microglobulin [13], granulocyte inhibitory proteins [8,9], degranulation inhibiting proteins [10,12], and chemotaxis inhibiting protein [15]. MM have been generally assumed to be of peptidic origin [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Although the analysis of hemofiltrate from uremic patients provided valuable information on circulating human peptides [24,25], the precise chemical structure of MM retained in the blood of these patients remains obscure.…”

Dyadic Relationship Conflict, Gender, and Mortality in Urban Hemodialysis Patients

“…The failure of levels of a stress mediator to return to normal after a challenge constitutes an abnormality of the allostatic system of stress responses (45). ␤-endorphin levels, which may modulate immune function through immune cell receptors (46,47), are increased in HD patients (48), as are cytokines (22,49), although the mechanisms underlying the dysregulation are not completely understood. In women, increased levels of ␤-endorphin correlated with high levels of dyadic conflict and depression.…”