Hypothalamic hypophyseal inhibitory factor (HHIF) increases intrasynaptosomal free calcium concentration

A non-ouabain Na/K ATPase inhibitor isolated from bovine hypothalamus. Its relation to hypothalamic ouabain

We have isolated from bovine hypothalamic and pituitary tissue the sodium pump inhibitor HHIF that is structurally different from ouabain. By mass spectrometric analysis this purified factor revealed a single unique molecular ion with an accurate mass of 412.277 and a mass spectra different from ouabain. It has been previously shown that HHIF inhibits the Ca2+-ATPase of the plasma membrane of synaptosomes. HHIF increases free calcium levels in cultured rat mesangial cells as well as mesangial cell contraction and proliferation. With the same purification procedure we have isolated in parallel HHIF and Ouabain from central nervous tissue. Ouabain elutes prior to HHIF in the final purification HPLC systems. This endogenous Ouabain has, in all the systems tested, the same chromatographic behavior that synthetic cold or [3H] Ouabain.