Summary
Dopamine (DA) concentrations in rat adrenals, plasma and brain were variably elevated 1 h after a large parenteral dose of morphine. In adrenals, unlabelled DA increased 2-fold and labelled DA, synthesized from 3H-tyrosine, increased more than 4-fold. The increases could be prevented by inhibition of DA-synthesizing enzymes and spinal cord transection, respectively. Labelled DA in plasma increased 2.7-fold after morphine in intact rats but did not increase in those with spinal cord transection.
It is concluded that: (1) morphine stimulates the adrenal by increasing nerve impulse flow, (2) increased nerve impulse flow increases DA synthesis and levels, and (3) the increased DA levels result in increased release of DA into the bloodstream.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Almgren, O., Snider, S., Carlsson, A.: Recovery of dopamine in peripheral adrenergic nerves after reserpine treatment. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 292, 133–136 (1976)
Anderson, T., Slotkin, T.: The role of neural input in the effects of morphine on the rat adrenal medulla. Biochem. Pharmacol. 25, 1071–1074 (1976)
Atack, C. V.: The determination of dopamine by a modification of the dihydroxyindole fluorimetric assay. Brit. J. Pharmacol. 48, 699–714 (1973)
Austin, L., Livett, B., Chubb, I.: Increased synthesis and release of noradrenaline during nerve stimulation. Life Sci. 6, 97–104 (1967)
Boadle-Biber, M., Roth, R.: Formation of dopamine and noradrenaline in rat vas deferens: Comparison with guinea-pig vas-deferens. Brit. J. Pharmacol. 55, 73–78 (1975)
Burnstock, G., Costa, M.: Adrenergic neurons: Their organization, function and development in the peripheral nervous system, p. 59. London: Chapman and Hall 1975
Callingham, B., Barrand, M.: Catecholamines in blood. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 28, 356–360 (1976)
Carlsson, A., Lindqvist, M.: Studies on the neurogenic short-term control of adrenomedullary hormone synthesis. J. Neural Trans. 35, 181–196 (1974)
Carlsson, A., Snider, S., Almgren, O., Lindqvist, M.: The neurogenic short-term control of catecholamine synthesis and release in the sympathoadrenal system, as reflected in the levels of endogenous dopamine and beta-hydroxylated catecholamines. In: Frontiers in catecholamine research (E. Usdin and S. Snyder, eds.) pp. 551–556. New York: Pergamon Press 1973
Christensen, N., Neubauer, B., Bransborg, O., Mathias, C., Frankel, H.: Dopamine and the peripheral autonomic nervous system. Lancet 1975 I, 1084–1085
Dunn, J., Lin, F.-J.: Daily fluctuations in adrenal catecholamine concentration. Experientia (Basel) 30, 348–349 (1974)
Elliott, T.: The control of the suprarenal glands by the splanchnic nerves. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 44, 374–409 (1912)
Fahn, S., Snider, S. R., Prasad, A. L. N., Lane, E., Makadon, H.: Normalization of brain serotonin by l-tryptophan in levodopa-treated rats. Neurology (Minneap.) 25, 861–865 (1975)
Goldberg, L.: Dopamine: Clinical uses of an endogenous catecholamine. New Engl. J. Med. 291, 707–710 (1974)
Hoeldtke, R., Rogawski, M., Wurtman, R.: Effect of selective destruction of central and peripheral catecholamine-containing neurones with 6-hydroxydopamine on catecholamine excretion in the rat. Brit. J. Pharmacol. 50, 265–270 (1974)
Iversen, L.: Neuronal and extraneuronal catecholamine uptake mechanisms. In: Frontiers in catecholamine research (E. Usdin and S. Snyder, eds.), pp. 403–408. New York: Pergamon Press 1973
Lal, H.: Narcotic dependence, narcotic action and dopamine receptors. Life Sci. 17, 483–496 (1975)
Langer, S.: Release of a neurotransmitter different from noradrenaline from the cat nictitating membrane after pretreatment with reserpine, p. 561. Abstracts of the VI. Int. Congr. Pharmacol., Helsinki, July 20–25, 1975
Laverty, R., Taylor, K. M.: The fluorometric assay of catecholamines and related compounds: Improvement and extensions to the hydroxyindole technique. Analyt. Biochem. 22, 269–279 (1968)
Levitt, M., Spector, S., Sjoerdsma, A., Udenfriend, S.: Elucidation of the rate-limiting step in norepinephrine biosynthesis in the perfused guinea-pig heart. J. Pharmacol. exp. Ther. 148, 1–8 (1965)
Lowenstein, E., Hallowell, P., Levine, F., Daggett, W., Austen, W., Laver, M.: Cardiovascular response to large doses of intravenous morphine in man. New Engl. J. Med. 281, 1384–1393 (1969)
Pletscher, A., Da Prada, M., Lufold, B., Berneis, H., Weder, H.: Two mechanisms of catecholamine storage in adrenal chromaffin granules. In: Frontiers in catecholamine research (E. Usdin and S. Snyder, eds.), pp. 41–45. New York: Pergamon Press 1973
Poggioli, J., Solier, M., Beauvallet, A.: Increased synthesis of dopamine in the rat adrenals during forced swimming and splanchnic nerve stimulation. In: Catecholamines and stress (E. Usdin, R. Kvetnansky, and I. Kopin, eds.), pp. 387–393, Oxford: Pergamon Press 1975
Prasad, A. L. N., Fahn, S.: A simplified method for the simultaneous determination of the biogenic monoamines, their precursors and metabolites. Trans. Amer. Soc. Neurochem. 4, 105 (1973)
Prasad, A. L. N., Snider, S. R., Fahn, S.: Short-term changes in adrenal dopamine and epinephrine plus norepinephrine induced by morphine. Fed. Proc. 35 (7), 1476 (1976)
Snider, S.: Assay of dopamine in human cardiovascular tissue. J. Neural. Trans. 35, 87–90 (1974a)
Snider, S.: Increase in adrenal dopamine following 6-hydroxydopamine. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 26, 647–649 (1974b)
Snider, S.: Release of peripheral dopamine during stress. Lancet 1975 I, 868
Snider, S. R., Carlsson, A.: The adrenal dopamine as an indicator of adrenomedullary hormone synthesis. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 275, 347–357 (1972)
Snider, S. R., Waldeck, B.: Increased synthesis of adrenomedullary catecholamines induced by caffeine and theophylline. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 281, 257–260 (1974)
Snider, S. R., Almgren, O., Carlsson, A.: The occurrence and functional significance of dopamine in some peripheral adrenergic nerves of the rat. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 278, 1–12 (1973)
Snider, S., Brown, R., Carlsson, A.: Changes in biogenic amine synthesis induced by hypoxia and foot shock. I. The adrenal medulla. J. Neural Trans. 35, 286–292 (1974)
Snider, S., Hutt, C., Stein, B., Prasad, A., Fahn, S.: Correlation of behavioural inhibition or excitation produced by bromocriptine with changes in brain catecholamine turnover. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 28, 563–566 (1976)
Thorner, M.: Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter in the autonomic nervous system. Lancet 1975 I, 662–665
Waldeck, B., Snider, S., Brown, R., Carlsson, A.: Studies on the synthesis and subcellular distribution of dopamine in the rat adrenal medulla. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 287, 1–10 (1975)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Snider, S.R., Miller, C., Prasad, A.L.N. et al. Is dopamine a neurohormone of the adrenal medulla?. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch. Pharmacol. 297, 17–22 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00508805
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00508805