Pineal factors other than melatonin

Abstract

Some sheep pineal factors other than melatonin are described.

A “nonmelatonin” antigonadotropic activity has been detected by application of the inhibition of compensatory ovarian hypertrophy (COH) in unilaterally ovariectomized adult Charles River CD-1 mice. The factor has been extracted from sheep pineals under rather simple and mild experimental conditions. This antigonadotropic activity has been partially purified by gel filtration and ultrafiltration and was localized on paper chromatograms and paper electropherograms.

Inhibitory and stimulatory activities on the hypothalamic-hypophyseal system in vitro have been detected in sheep pineal fractions obtained after gel filtration and ultrafiltration.

A substance with distinct fluorescence characteristics, which could not be detected in sheep cerebral cortex extracts and which differs from melatonin, has been isolated from a low molecular Sephadex G-25 fraction of an extract of sheep pineals.