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Microbial Endocrinology pp 69–87Cite as

Dietary Catechols and their Relationship to Microbial Endocrinology

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Abstract

This chapter examines the evidence that the ability of neuroendocrine hormones, notably norepinephrine and epinephrine, to stimulate bacterial growth in iron-restricted media is not limited to molecules with a catecholamine structure but is also possessed by a variety of other catechols, many of which are of plant origin and are common in the diet. Catechols derived from the diet, such as the tea flavanols, can be present in the plasma at submicromolar and micromolar concentrations, comparable with the concentrations of catecholamines that have been shown to be effective in promoting bacterial growth under conditions of iron restriction, although many dietary catechols, notably quercetin derivatives, are present in the plasma and tissues largely as conjugates, from which the catechol function has been lost. Finally, although bacterial growth promotion through relief of iron restriction appears to be exhibited by a wide range of catechols, the gene-activation effects of catecholamines demonstrated to occur in some bacteria may be much more specific, although the definitive experiments to establish structure-function relationships have yet to be reported.

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Acknowledgements

N.S. is supported by BBSRC responsive mode grant No. BB/D013135/1 awarded under the BBSRC’s GPS scheme and co-funded by the FSA.

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  1. Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, UK

    Neil Shearer & Nicholas J. Walton

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  1. Neil Shearer
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Correspondence to Neil Shearer .

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  1. Health Sciences Center, School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University, 4th Street 3601, Lubbock, 79430, USA

    Mark Lyte

  2. School of Medicine, Dept. Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

    Primrose P.E. Freestone

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Shearer, N., Walton, N.J. (2010). Dietary Catechols and their Relationship to Microbial Endocrinology. In: Lyte, M., Freestone, P. (eds) Microbial Endocrinology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5576-0_4

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