3,4-Dihydroxyphenylalanine 3,4-Dihydroxyphenylethylamine

L-Dihydroxyphenylalanine 4-Dihydroxyphenylethylamine Dimeric Transcription Factors Dioxins Dipeptidase Dipeptidylpeptidase Dipeptidylpeptidase IV Direct Thrombin Inhibitors Discharge of Neurons... 

Histamine, serotonin and the catecholamines (dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine) are synthesized from the aromatic amino acids histidine, tryptophan and phenylalanine, respectively. The biosynthesis of catecholamines in adrenal medulla cells and catecholamine-secreting neurons can be simply summarized as follows [the enzyme catalysing the reaction and the key additional reagents are in square brackets] phenylalanine — tyrosine [via liver phenylalanine hydroxylase + tetrahydrobiopterin] —> i.-dopa (l.-dihydroxyphenylalanine) [via tyrosine hydroxylase + tetrahydrobiopterin] —> dopamine (dihydroxyphenylethylamine) [via dopa decarboxylase + pyridoxal phosphate] — norepinephrine (2-hydroxydopamine) [via dopamine [J-hydroxylasc + ascorbate] —> epinephrine (jV-methyl norepinephrine) [via phenylethanolamine jV-methyltransferase + S-adenosylmethionine]. 

The conversion of tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine occurs both in vivo in man (590) and in vitro by the action of tissue tyrosinase (205, 688). Mammals can decarboxylate both tyrosine (402,407) and dihydroxyphenyl-alanine (406), tyrosine decarboxylase and dihydroxyphenylalanine (dopa) decarboxylases being quite distinct and separable (405), though both are dependent on pyridoxal phosphate (73, 758, and review 72). In mammals dihydroxyphenylalanine is the most readily decarboxylated of all amino acids, and it is therefore not unreasonable to assume that this is the substrate normally decarboxylated in adrenaline biosynthesis cf. 74, 75). Support for this concept derives from the fact that both the substrate and the product of the reaction (3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine diagram 11) can or do occur in the adrenal (298, 299, 802), and the amine is moreover, like adrenaline and noradrenaline, a normal urinary excretion product (245, 404). 

A, adrenaline COMT, catechol-O-methyl transferase CSF, cerebrospinal fluid DA, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethylamine (dopamine) Dopa, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine 5HIAA, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid 5HT, 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) 5HTP, 5-hydroxytryptophan HVA, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (homovanillic acid) MAO, monoamine oxidase MAOI, monoamine oxidase inhibitor MHPG,... 

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