PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - J R Thornton
AU  - M S Losowsky
TI  - Plasma beta endorphin in cirrhosis and renal failure.
AID  - 10.1136/gut.32.3.306
DP  - 1991 Mar 01
TA  - Gut
PG  - 306--308
VI  - 32
IP  - 3
4099  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/32/3/306.short
4100  - http://gut.bmj.com/content/32/3/306.full
SO  - Gut1991 Mar 01; 32
AB  - Whether the plasma concentration of beta endorphin was increased in hepatic cirrhosis like that of smaller opioid peptides methionine enkephalin and leucine enkephalin was determined. Its concentration in chronic renal failure was also measured. Plasma beta endorphin was not significantly raised in cirrhotic patients with or without ascites (medians 5.2 pmol/l and 4.7 pmol/l respectively) compared with disease control subjects (4.9 pmol/l) and healthy control subjects (4.9 pmol/l). In contrast, the peptide was increased 2.5 fold (p less than 0.001) in chronic renal failure (12.4 pmol/l) and was found in many of these patients' urine. The data are compatible with the hypothesis that the liver may play an important role in the elimination of opioid peptides of octapeptide size or less but not the larger peptides such as beta endorphin.