Catecholamines terminals

Fink, J. Stephen, and Gerard P. Smith. 1979a. "Decreased Locomotion and Investigatory Exploration After Denervation of Catecholamine Terminal Fields in the Forebrain of Rats." Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 93 34-65. 

Sesack SR, Pickel VM. Prefrontal cortical efferents in the rat synapse on unlabeled neuronal targets of catecholamine terminals in the nucleus accumbens septi and on dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. J Comp Neurol 1992 320 145-160. 

Propranolol. Propranolol hydrochloride, considered the prototype of the P-adrenoceptor blocking agents, has been in use since 1964. It is a nonselective, highly Hpid-soluble P-adrenoceptor blocker having no ISA. It is a mixture of (+) and (—) enantiomers, and the (—) enantiomer is the active moiety. The local anesthetic effects of propranolol are equipotent to those of Hdocaine [137-58-6] C 4H22N20, (see Anesthetics). Therapeutic effects include termination of catecholamine-induced arrhythmias, conversion of SA nodal tachycardias (including flutter and fibrillation) and AV nodal tachyarrhythmias to normal sinus rhythm, digitahs-induced arrhythmias, and ventricular arrhythmias (1,2). The dmg also has cardioprotective properties (37,39). 

Two important pathways for catecholamine metaboHsm are 0-methylation by COMT, which is cytoplasmicaHy localized, and oxidative deamination by the mitochondrial localized enzyme MAO. There are large amounts of MAO in tissues such as the fiver and the heart which are responsible for the removal of most of the circulating monoamine, including some taken in from the diet. Tyramine is found in high concentrations in certain foods such as cheese, and in wine. Normally, this tyramine is deaminated in the fiver. However, if MAO is inhibited, the tyramine may then be converted into octopamine [104-14-37] which may indirecdy cause release of NE from nerve terminals to cause hypertensive crisis. Thus MAO, which is relatively nonspecific, plays an important role in the detoxification of pharmacologically active amines ingested from the diet. 

Methylphenidate like cocaine largely acts by blocking reuptake of monoamines into the presynaptic terminal. Methylphenidate administration produces an increase in the steady-state (tonic) levels of monoamines within the synaptic cleft. Thus, DAT inhibitors, such as methylphenidate, increase extracellular levels of monoamines. In contrast, they decrease the concentrations of the monoamine metabolites that depend upon monoamine oxidase (MAO), that is, HVA, but not catecholamine-o-methyltransferase (COMT), because reuptake by the transporter is required for the formation of these metabolites. By stimulating presynaptic autoreceptors, methylphenidate induced increase in dopamine transmission can also reduce monoamine synthesis, inhibit monoamine neuron firing and reduce subsequent phasic dopamine release. 

The pathway for synthesis of the catecholamines dopamine, noradrenaline and adrenaline, illustrated in Fig. 8.5, was first proposed by Hermann Blaschko in 1939 but was not confirmed until 30 years later. The amino acid /-tyrosine is the primary substrate for this pathway and its hydroxylation, by tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), to /-dihydroxyphenylalanine (/-DOPA) is followed by decarboxylation to form dopamine. These two steps take place in the cytoplasm of catecholaminereleasing neurons. Dopamine is then transported into the storage vesicles where the vesicle-bound enzyme, dopamine-p-hydroxylase (DpH), converts it to noradrenaline (see also Fig. 8.4). It is possible that /-phenylalanine can act as an alternative substrate for the pathway, being converted first to m-tyrosine and then to /-DOPA. TH can bring about both these reactions but the extent to which this happens in vivo is uncertain. In all catecholamine-releasing neurons, transmitter synthesis in the terminals greatly exceeds that in the cell bodies or axons and so it can be inferred... 

As with other monoamines, the actions of 5-HT are terminated by its reuptake from the synapse by another member of the family of Na+/CU-dependent transporters. The 5-HT transporter has many features in common with its catecholamine equivalent (described fully in Chapter 8 see Fig. 8.7), including its presumed 12 transmembrane-spanning domains. However, the cloned 5-HT transporter has a for 5-HT of about 450 nM whereas its K for both noradrenaline and dopamine is some ten thousand-fold greater (Povlock and Amara 1997) which means that it is relatively selective for uptake... 

Effects in Laboratory Animals. As highlighted in other chapters, the central toxicities during and after repeated stimulant bingeing may be related to neuronal or terminal destruction and/or depletion of neurotransmitter in the brain. In monkeys and cats, the report by Duarte-Escalante and Ellinwood (1970) of neuronal chromatolysis associated with decreased catecholamine histofluorescence following chronic METH intoxication has been followed by extensive neurochemical demonstrations of damage to the monoamine pathways by chronic stimulants (Seiden and Ricaurte 1987). 

Sesack S.R., Pickel V.M. In the rat medial nucleus accumbens, hippocampal and catecholamin-ergic terminals converge on spiny neurons and are in apposition to each other. Brain Res. 527 266, 1990. 

The answer is b. (Hardmanr p 444.) This patient ate tyramine-rich foods while taking an MAOI and went into hypertensive crisis. Tyramine causes release of stored catecholamines from presynaptic terminals, which can cause hypertension, headache, tachycardia, cardiac arrhythmias, nausea, and stroke. In patients who do not take MAOls, tyramine is inactivated in the gut by MAO, and patients taking MAOls must be warned about the dangers of eating tyramine-rich foods. 

Catecholamines are concentrated in storage vesicles that are present at high density within nerve terminals 213... 

The concentration of catecholamines within nerve terminals remains relatively constant 214... 

The action of catecholamines released at the synapse is modulated by diffusion and reuptake into presynaptic nerve terminals 216... 

The concentration of catecholamines within nerve terminals remains relatively constant. Despite the marked fluctuations in the activity of catecholamine-containing neurons, efficient regulatory mechanisms modulate the rate of synthesis of catecholamines [ 11 ]. A long-term process affecting catecholamine synthesis involves alterations in the amounts of TH and DBH present in nerve terminals. When sympathetic neuronal activity is increased for a prolonged period of time, the amounts of mRNA coding for TH and DBH are increased in the neuronal perikarya. DDC does not appear to be modulated by this process. The newly synthesized enzyme molecules are then transported down the axon to the nerve terminals. 

In addition, two mechanisms operative at the level of the nerve terminal play important roles in the short-term modulation of catecholamine synthesis and are responsive to momentary changes in neuronal activity [12]. TH, the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis pathway, is... 

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