Proteomic profiling of the pituitary gland in studies of psychiatric disorders

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders have been associated with perturbations of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Therefore, proteomic studies of the pituitary gland have the potential to provide new insights into the underlying pathways affected in these conditions as well as identify new biomarkers or targets for use in developing improved medications. This chapter describes a protocol for preparation of pituitary protein extracts followed by characterization of the pituitary proteome by label-free liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in expression mode (LC-MSE). The main focus was on establishing a method for identifying the major pituitary hormones and accessory proteins as many of these have already been implicated in psychiatric diseases.