Skip to main content
NCBI home page
British Medical Journal logoLink to British Medical Journal
. 1972 Nov 11;4(5836):325–327. doi: 10.1136/bmj.4.5836.325

Secretion of Dopa in Phaeochromocytoma

William J Louis, Austin E Doyle, William C Heath, Maxwell J Robinson
PMCID: PMC1786578  PMID: 4637512

Abstract

In a series of 11 cases with phaeochromocytoma, two patients were found in whom the tumour secreted dopa in addition to dopamine, noradrenaline, and adrenaline. These two patients were normotensive in spite of high plasma and urinary levels of noradrenaline and adrenaline. This raises the possibility that dopa may be able to protect against the hypertensive action of noradrenaline. Such a mechanism would also explain the absence of hypertension in many cases of neuroblastoma.

Full text

PDF
325

Selected References

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

  1. BURN J. H., RAND M. J. The depressor action of dopamine and adrenaline. Br J Pharmacol Chemother. 1958 Dec;13(4):471–479. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1958.tb00240.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CARLSSON A., WALDECK B. A fluorimetric method for the determination of dopamine (3-hydroxytyramine). Acta Physiol Scand. 1958 Dec 15;44(3-4):293–298. doi: 10.1111/j.1748-1716.1958.tb01628.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. HOLMES J. C., FOWLER N. O. Direct cardiac effects of dopamine. Circ Res. 1962 Jan;10:68–72. doi: 10.1161/01.res.10.1.68. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. HOLTZ P., STOCK K., WESTERMANN E. FORMATION OF TETRAHYDROPAPAVEROLINE FROM DOPAMINE IN VITRO. Nature. 1964 Aug 8;203:656–658. doi: 10.1038/203656b0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Henning M., Rubenson A. Central hypotensive effect of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine in the rat. J Pharm Pharmacol. 1970 Aug;22(8):553–560. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-7158.1970.tb10570.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. SHEPHERD D. M., WEST G. B. Hydroxytyramine and the adrenal medulla. J Physiol. 1953 Apr 28;120(1-2):15–19. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1953.sp004868. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. SJOERDSMA A. Catecholamine metabolism in patients with pheochromocytoma. Pharmacol Rev. 1959 Jun;11(2 Pt 2):374–378. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Tabei R., Spector S., Louis W. J., Sjoerdsma A. Antihypertensive and noradrenaline-depleting effects of alpha-methyl-5-hydroxytryptophan in the rat. Eur J Pharmacol. 1969 Jul;7(1):39–44. doi: 10.1016/0014-2999(69)90160-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. VON STUDNITZ W., KASER H., SJOERDSMA A. Spectrum of catechol amine biochemistry in patients with neuroblastoma. N Engl J Med. 1963 Aug 1;269:232–235. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196308012690503. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Voorhess M. L. Functioning neural tumors. Pediatr Clin North Am. 1966 Feb;13(1):3–18. doi: 10.1016/s0031-3955(16)31796-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. WEIL-MALHERBE H. Phaeochromocytoma catechols in urine and tumour tissue. Lancet. 1956 Aug 11;271(6937):282–284. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Watanabe A. M., Chase T. N., Cardon P. V. Effect of L-dopa alone and in combination with an extracerebral decarboxylase inhibitor on blood pressure and some cardiovascular reflexes. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1970 Sep-Oct;11(5):740–746. doi: 10.1002/cpt1970115740. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Wurtman R. J. Catecholamines. N Engl J Med. 1965 Sep 30;273(14):746–concl. doi: 10.1056/NEJM196509302731406. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES