Abstract
PHENOTHIAZINES and related neuroleptic drugs, such as thioxanthenes, markedly increase the content of homovanillic acid (3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid) in the brain, especially in the extrapyramidal centres of various animal species. This has raised the question of whether neuroleptic drugs accelerate the synthesis of catecholamines through a feed-back mechanism either as a result of blockade of dopaminergic and noradrenergic receptors or of alteration of the amine storage1–6,16. The present communication shows that in vivo chlorpromazine and related neuroleptics markedly enhance the hydroxylation of tyrosine which seems to be a rate-limiting step in the formation of catecholamines7.
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BURKARD, W., GEY, K. & PLETSCHER, A. Activation of Tyrosine Hydroxylation in Rat Brain in vivo by Chlorpromazine. Nature 213, 732–733 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/213732a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/213732a0
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