Enkephalins

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proenkephalin
Symbol(s):	PENK
Locus:	8 q23 -q24
EC number	[1]
EntrezGene	5179
OMIM	131330
RefSeq	NM_006211
UniProt	P01210

An enkephalin is a pentapeptide involved in regulating pain and nociception in the body. The enkephalins are termed endogenous ligands, or specifically endorphins, as they are internally derived and bind to the body's opioid receptors and are morphine like in their action. Discovered in 1975, two forms of enkephalin were revealed, one containing leucine ("leu"), while the other contains methionine ("met"). Both are products of the proenkephalin gene.

• Met-enkephalin is Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Met.
• Leu-enkephalin has Tyr-Gly-Gly-Phe-Leu.

Contents 1 Endogenous opioid peptides 2 Enkephalin receptor 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Endogenous opioid peptides

There are three well-characterized families of opioid peptides produced by the body: enkephalins, endorphins and dynorphins. The met-enkephalin peptide sequence is coded for by both the enkephalin gene and the endorphin gene (also known as the POMC gene) and that the leu-enkephalin peptide sequence is coded for by both the enkephalin gene and the dynorphin gene.^[1]

[edit] Enkephalin receptor

Main article: Opioid receptor

The receptors for enkephalin are the opioid receptors. These are a group of G-protein coupled receptors, with other opioids as ligands as well. The other endogenous opioids are dynorphins, endorphins, endomorphins and nociceptin/orphanin FQ. The opioid receptors are ~40% identical to somatostatin receptors (SSTRs).

[edit] See also

• Analgesia
• Endorphin
• Opioid peptide
• Peptides
• Racecadotril
• RB-101

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• MeSH Enkephalins
• Physiology at MCG 6/6ch2/s6ch2_36

This box: view • talk • edit Neuropeptides: opioid peptides
Dynorphin - Endorphin (Beta-endorphin) - Enkephalin

This page uses content from the English-language version of Wikipedia. The original article was at Enkephalin. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Psychology Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.