Adrenocorticotropins (ACTH)

Previous investigations (1) provided evidence that esterification of carboxyl groups with methanol results in a decrease of the adrenal-stimulating activity of adrenocorticotropins (ACTH) without alteration of the melanocyte-stimulating activity of the hormone.In this communication, we wish to report on the effect of blockage of amino groups by succinylation on the biological activity of the peptide hormone.Studies on tryptic digests of succinyl-adrenocorticotropins were also carried out, revealing that the only peptide bonds cleaved by the enzyme were those containing arginine, in accordance with the enzymic specificity of trypsin.