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Stereoselectivity in the metabolism of 3H-noradrenaline during uptake into and efflux from the isolated rat vas deferens

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Summary

  1. 1.

    The metabolism of 3H-(-)- and 3H-(±)-noradrenaline (NA) was studied in the isolated rat vas deferens either under conditions of uptake or of efflux of the amine. Any differences obtained between 3H-(-)-and 3H-(±)NA as substrate were interpreted as being a reflection of differences between the two isomers of the amine.

  2. 2.

    Uptake experiments (0.13 μM; 7.5 min) showed that neuronal mechanisms of amine disposition prevail over extraneuronal ones. Thus, most of the metabolites of 3H-NA formed during incubation with the amine (including the O-methylated products) were of neuronal origin. The acid deaminated metabolite 3,4-dihydroxymandelic acid (DOMA), tended to be much better retained by the tissue than the neutral deaminated metabolite, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethyleneglycol (DOPEG). While neuronal uptake exhibited no stereoselectivity, a pronounced stereoselectivity was found for monoamine oxidase (MAO) [(-)NA> (+)NA] as well as for the enzymes which are in series with MAO, namely, aldehyde reductase and aldehyde dehydrogenase [(-)DOPEG> (+)DOPEG; (-)DOMA <(+)DOMA].

  3. 3.

    After about 2 h of washout, the efflux of radioactivity from the tissue [which was previously incubated for 30 min with 1.2 μM of either 3H-(-)- or 3H-(±)NA] originated from one neuronal compartment with no stereoselectivity of the rate constant for the efflux of total tritium. The rate-limiting step for the neuronal efflux of tritium resided either in the net efflux of amine from the storage vesicles (normal tissues) or in the net efflux across the axonal membrane (tissues with the amine metabolizing enzymes inhibited). The effects of cocaine and phenoxybenzamine on the neuronal efflux of tritiated compounds strongly depended on the intraneuronal distribution of the 3H-amine. The results indicate that cocaine has only one site of action (neuronal uptake), while phenoxybenzamine exerts reserpine-like as well as cocaine-like effects.

  4. 4.

    The neuronal efflux of tritium from normal tissues preloaded with 3H-(-)- or 3H-(±)NA consisted mainly of amine metabolites (90% of the total; most of this was DOPEG). Since after 2 h of washout the tissue contained hardly any metabolites, these metabolites did not represent pre-formed metabolites (formed during the period of preloading) but newly formed metabolites resulting from the catabolism of the neuronally stored amine. This catabolism was brought about through the activity of presynaptic enzymes and was stereoselective in that more DOPEG, less DOMA and less O-methylated metabolites were formed from (-)-than from (+)NA.

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Author notes

  1. S. Z. Langer

    Present address: Division of Biology, Synthelabo, 58 rue de la Glacière, 75621, Paris, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacologicas, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    K. -H. Graefe (Postdoctoral Fellow), F. J. E. Stefano & S. Z. Langer

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  1. K. -H. Graefe
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  2. F. J. E. Stefano
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  3. S. Z. Langer
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Graefe, K.H., Stefano, F.J.E. & Langer, S.Z. Stereoselectivity in the metabolism of 3H-noradrenaline during uptake into and efflux from the isolated rat vas deferens. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 299, 225–238 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00500315

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