Molecular Pharmacology, Vol 5, 565-571, Copyright © 1969 by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Increased Synthesis of Catecholamines and Their Metabolites following the Administration of Phenoxybenzamine

¹ Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Section on Neurochemistry, Division of Special Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C. 20032

The over-all synthesis rate of catecholamines was determined in control and phenoxybenzamine-treated rats both by measuring the incorporation of ¹⁴C-L-tyrosine into norepinephrine and by assaying all the known major urinary metabolites of epinephrine and norepinephrine. The phenoxybenzamine-stimulated increase in synthesis of these hormones is firmly established. Consideration of the results of analysis of urinary metabolites reveals that (a) there is a large turnover of epinephrine and norepinephrine that must take place in sites not usually studied, and (b) studies of metabolism based on the intravenous administration of labeled norepinephrine must be interpreted with reserve.

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