beta-endorphin and Gastritis

We investigated the effect of phytohemagglutinin and the neuropeptide beta-endorphin on the in vitro lymphocyte proliferative response in patients with chronic ulcer disease and upper gastrointestinal bleeding or in remission, acute ulcer or hemorrhagic gastritis, and in healthy persons without upper gastrointestinal disease. We found that the addition of beta-endorphin produced a strongly enhanced proliferative response to phytohemagglutinin in lymphocytes from patients with chronic ulcer disease, and in particular from those with recent bleeding.

Topics: beta-Endorphin; Duodenal Ulcer; Gastritis; Humans; Lymphocyte Activation; Middle Aged; Peptic Ulcer Hemorrhage; Phytohemagglutinins; T-Lymphocytes

RIA method was used in this study to determine immunoreactive beta-endorphin (ir-beta-EP) in gastric mucosa of patients with benign and malignant gastric diseases. The results showed that the content of ir-beta-EP in gastric mucosa in the peptic ulcer group was the highest (68 +/- 9.5 pg/mg wet weight tissue, P less than 0.01), while its content in gastric carcinoma was closely related to the degree of differentiation of the tumor, that is, in poorly differentiated carcinoma it was lower than that in well differentiated carcinoma (P less than 0.02), and was also lower than that in gastritis (P less than 0.05). At the same time, we found that beta-endorphin can markedly augment the 3H-TdR incorporation of lymphocytes (P less than 0.01). This effect was not blocked by naloxone.

Topics: beta-Endorphin; Gastric Mucosa; Gastritis; Humans; Lymphocytes; Stomach Neoplasms