BETA-CASOMORPHIN-IMMUNOREACTIVITY IN THE BRAIN-STEM OF THE HUMAN INFANT

Using a peptide extraction procedure, reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography, and a radioimmunoassay that utilized an antibod y raised specifically against human beta-casomorphin-8 (BC8), BC-immun oreactivity (BCIR) was detected in rostrocaudally increasing levels in nineteen microscopically distinct and functionally relevant areas of mesencephalon, pons cerebri, and medulla oblongata of eight infants. O n the basis of the methodology used, it can be concluded, that the BCI R present in their brain stem was due to BC8 and/or to some of its con geners. Data in the literature together with those of this study indic ate that beta-casomorphins could be transported by specific mechanisms from the blood into the brain stem and that they could play a role in the central regulation of various physiological phenomena.