Inactivation of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone by rat hypothalamic L-cystine arylamidase.

The rate of hydrolysis of several aminoacyl-4-nitroanilides by rat hypothalamic arylamidases was investigated. The activity of these enzymes which were mainly found in the 105 000 times g supernatant fraction of homogenates of the hypothalamus and other parts of the brain was shown to depend upon the presence of metal ions and free thiol groups, and to be inhibited by puromycin. As previous investigations had shown that Cys-NA is an appropiate substrate for measuring hormone effects on hypothalamic arylamidases, L-cystine arylamidase and its interaction with various peptide hormones were examined in detail. It could conclusively be shown that this enzyme interacts particularly with oligopeptides. Its activity was competitively inhibited by TRF, oxytocin, lysine vasopressin, and LH-RH. It was also shown that the biological activity of LH-RH and its inhibitory effect on the hydrolysis of L-cystine-bis-p-nitroanilide decreased when it was incubated for various periods of time with the 105 000 times g supernatant of rat hypothalumus homogenate.