Summary
Incisor pulp from the rabbit metabolises exogenous noradrenaline in concentrations between 0.12 and 1.2 μmol/l mainly to NMN.
Effects of chronic sympathetic denervation indicated that in incisor pulp the NMN is extraneuronal in origin, and that DOPEG and DOMA formation, as well as a major part of the noradrenaline which accumulates in the tissue, are associated with the sympathetic nerves.
NMN formation was unaffected by hydrocortisone 210 μmol/l, but was strongly inhibited by cocaine 30 μmol/l. These effects contrasted with those in the rabbit ear artery, where NMN formation was increased by cocaine 30 μmol/l and decreased by hydrocortisone 210 μmol/l.
In COMT-inhibited denervated pulp, cocaine inhibited the accumulation of noradrenaline.
Monoamine fluorescence histochemistry of pulp exposed to noradrenaline 50 μmol/l indicated that cocaine-sensitive uptake occurred in fibroblasts.
It is concluded that O-methylation of noradrenaline in dental pulp involves prior uptake of the amine by a process resembling uptake, but which is distinguished from uptake1 by its extraneuronal location.
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Abbreviations
- DOMA:
-
3,4-dihydroxy mandelic acid
- DOPEG:
-
3,4-dihydroxyphenylethyleneglycol
- NMN:
-
normetanephrine
- OMDA:
-
O-methyl deaminated metabolite fraction, comprising vanillyl-mandelic acid (VMA) plus the 3-methoxy derivative of DOPEG (MOPEG)
- MAO:
-
monoamine oxidase
- COMT:
-
catecholO-methyl transferase
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Parker, D.A.S., de la Lande, I.S., Proctor, C. et al. Cocaine-sensitive O-methylation of noradrenaline in dental pulp of the rabbit: Comparison with the rabbit ear artery. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 335, 32–39 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00165032
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00165032