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. 1969 May;36(1):107–115. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1969.tb08308.x

The effect of tropolone on the formation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetic acid in the brain of the mouse

G F Murphy, D Robinson, D F Sharman
PMCID: PMC1703540  PMID: 5768081

Abstract

1. The development of a very sensitive and specific fluorimetric assay for 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid has made it possible to measure how inhibitors of the enzyme catechol-O-methyl transferase affect the relative concentrations of this acid and its O-methylated derivative 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetic acid (homovanillic acid) in the brains of mice treated with L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine or probenecid.

2. It was found that tropolone and tropolone-4-acetamide reduce the concentration of homovanillic acid in the brains of the treated mice to an extent dependent on the dose.

3. The concentration of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the brain was increased by the administration of tropolone or tropolone-4-acetamide but the dose and response were not simply related to one another.

4. The results suggest that, in vivo, the formation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid is not always a simple alternative to the formation of homovanillic acid when the enzyme catechol-O-methyl transferase is inhibited.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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