Interaction of beta-endorphin and other opioid peptides with calmodulin

M Sellinger-Barnette and B Weiss

A highly purified preparation of calmodulin activated a calmodulin- deficient phosphodiesterase by more than 10-fold. This activation of phosphodiesterase by calmodulin was completely inhibited by two opioid peptides, beta-endorphin and dynorphin, at concentrations that had no appreciable effect on the basal phosphodiesterase activity. By contrast, similar concentrations of other structurally related peptides, including alpha-endorphin, (des-Tyr1)-gamma-endorphin, Leu- enkephalin, and Met-enkephalin, failed to block calmodulin's activation of phosphodiesterase. The inhibition by beta-endorphin of calmodulin's action was not reversed by calcium or by the opiate antagonist naloxone but was overcome by increasing the concentration of calmodulin. Equilibrium dialysis studies showed that 125I-labeled beta-endorphin bound directly to calmodulin in a saturable, calcium-dependent manner with a dissociation constant of approximately 4.6 microM. There was substantially less binding of beta-endorphin to troponin-C and little or no calcium-dependent binding of beta-endorphin to bovine serum albumin, lactalbumin, or histone. This interaction of beta-endorphin with calmodulin was similar in several respects to the interaction of certain antipsychotic drugs to calmodulin and may explain certain of the peptide's biochemical effects.

Volume 21, Issue 1, pp. 86-91, 01/01/1982
Copyright © 1982 by American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics