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Horm Metab Res 1995; 27(4): 189-193
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-979937
Originals Clinical

© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Evidence for In Vivo High-Frequency Periodicity of Plasma Beta-Endorphin in Humans

B. Imthurn1 , M. Rosselli1 , J. Beran2 , P. J. Keller1
  • 1Clinic of Endocrinology, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Hospital, Zurich
  • 2Department of Biostatistics, ISPM, University Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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Publication History

1994

1994

Publication Date:
23 April 2007 (online)

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Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether high-frequency periodic fluctuation in the release of plasma immunoreactive (ir)-beta-endorphin occurs in humans. Design, patients and measurements: Blood was collected at 90-sec intervals for 1 hour from the forearm vein of four healthy women and subsequently analysed for ir-beta-endorphin by radioimmunoassay. Results: In all women circulating beta-endorphin release followed a high-frequency periodic rhythm pattern. The estimated spectral densities within the four subjects varied between 3.6 min to 4.9 min. Conclusions: Our results provide the first in vivo evidence that fluctuations in the release of beta-endorphin in humans cannot only be characterized by low-frequency pulses, but also by a high frequency periodic rhythm.

Key words

Beta-endorphin - Human - Plasma - Pulsatile Release