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Protoberberines are a new class of organic cations that are dual poisons of topoisomerases I and II. Certain protoberberines exhibit greater in vitro cytotoxicity against cell lines derived from solid tumors than from leukemias. Using a group of seventeen different protoberberine analogs, the structural basis for selective cytotoxicity toward sensitive SF-268 glioblastoma cells as compared with resistant RPMI 8402 lymphoblast cells was explored. The selective cytotoxicity is associated with the presence of an imminium ion and other structural features of protoberberines, and is not shared by drugs such as camptothecin, doxorubicin, vinblastine, and etoposide, which are either equally or more cytotoxic against RPMI 8402 cells than SF-268 cells. The selective cytotoxicity of protoberberines against SF-268 over RPMI 8402 cells is not due to differences in topoisomerase levels or known drug efflux systems such as multidrug resistance (MDR1) and multidrug-resistance protein (MRP). Comparative in vitro studies of the accumulation of coralyne, a fluorescent protoberberine, into sensitive and resistant cells demonstrated a correlation between drug accumulation and selective cytotoxicity. Inhibitors of coralyne uptake included several protoberberine-related compounds. Of these, palmatine, a minimally cytotoxic protoberberine, both inhibited coralyne accumulation and reduced cytotoxicity against SF-268 cells, but not against RPMI 8402 cells. Despite the structural resemblance of protoberberines to catecholamines, our experiments using inhibitors and cells expressing biogenic amine uptake systems have ruled out the involvement of biogenic amine uptake1, uptake2, and vesicular monoamine transport systems. Uptake systems remaining as candidates, supported by preliminary data, include transport via vesicles derived from specialized membrane invaginations and selected carrier-mediated organic amine transport systems.

Adult female virgin rats were administered contraceptive steroids orally for a long period, and the effect of this on the brain biogenic amine(s) content was studied. The amine(s) content of the brain during the course of chronic treatment with the hormones was estimated at various time intervals. In addition to this, the noradrenaline (NA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) content of rat brain regions was assayed after three months of hormone treatment. The onset of the brain amine depletion was observed by the end of the second month of hormone administration. The amine(s) depleting action was found to be due to the norgestrel component of the pill. Studies of the regional distribution of amine(s) showed that the depletion was more prominent in the hypothalamus and pons/medulla oblongata. The assay of the monoamine oxidase enzyme did not reveal any significant change, though the estrogenic and progestogenic hormones were found to have opposing effects on the enzyme levels.

The catecholamine storage vesicles of a pheochromocytoma taken from a child have been isolated and characterized. The tumor contained almost exclusively noradrenaline and a large proportion of this amine was vesicle-bound. The noradrenaline-containing vesicles showed great resemblance to bovine chromaffin granules. Their catecholamine and dopamine beta-hydroxylase contents were that of chromaffin granules; their morphology and density were similar to those of the subpopulation of these granules that contain noradrenaline. The pheochromocytoma vesicles contained in their membranes an abundant polypeptide of mol. wt 110,000, which was not apparent in bovine adrenal medulla vesicle membranes. Monoamine uptake by pheochromocytoma noradrenaline vesicles did not differ significantly from that observed in bovine chromaffin granules. The time-course, plateau level and KM for noradrenaline were similar for both types of organelles. Both had an oligomycin-resistant ATPase with similar properties. Investigations using the tetrabenazine derivative [2-3H]dihydrotetrabenazine (2-hydroxy-3-isobutyl-9,10-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4,6, 7-hexahydro-11b-H-benzo[a]quinolizine), which binds specially to the bovine chromaffin granule monoamine carrier indicated that granule membranes from the tumor have a 10-fold increased number of [2-3H]dihydrotetrabenazine binding sites, with no change in dissociation constant. As in the case of bovine chromaffin granules, [2-3H]dihydrotetrabenazine can be totally displaced by noradrenaline and serotonin. To account for the discrepancy observed between the uptake data (which indicated no difference with bovine chromaffin granules) and the [2-3H]dihydrotetrabenazine binding studies (which showed a large excess of binding sites in the tumor membranes), we propose that granules in the investigated tumor contained a large amount of inactive monoamine carrier.

The beta-adrenergic receptors (beta-ARs) coupled to pepsinogen secretion on frog esophageal peptic cells have been compared to frog erythrocyte beta-ARs using the radioligand 125I-iodopindolol (125I-PIN). 125I-PIN binding to intact peptic cells was time and temperature dependent. Saturation and competition experiments established that a large component of this binding represented radioligand uptake, which was energy dependent, pH sensitive, Na+ independent, and inhibited by agents that depress cellular ATP or disrupt proton gradients. This uptake system, which was absent from frog erythrocytes, appeared similar to that recently described for a number of mammalian cells. 125I-PIN bound to a single class of sites on peptic cell homogenates with a KD = 64 (+/- 5) pM. Binding to cell homogenates and a proportion of the binding to intact cells was inhibited by beta-agonists and antagonists with pharmacological characteristics similar to typical beta 2-ARs of frog erythrocytes. The number of beta-ARs in these peptic cell preparations was 1300 (+/- 240) sites/cell. Isolated peptic cells were poorly responsive to isoproterenol stimulation even in the presence of the phosphodiesterase inhibitor IBMX (3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine). Pretreatment of cells with the phorbol ester TPA (12-O-tetra-decanoylphorbol-13-acetate) (100 nM) promoted isoproterenol stimulation of pepsinogen secretion. Catecholamine agonists stimulated pepsinogen secretion with an order of potency: isoproterenol greater than epinephrine much greater than norepinephrine, which was identical to that determined for inhibition of 125I-PIN binding. These findings indicate that frog peptic cells contain beta 2-ARs functionally coupled to pepsinogen secretion.

The central side effects of pentamethylmelamine (PMM), an antitumoral agent, were studied on brain neurotransmitters from the biochemical and behavioural points of view. PMM causes a dose-related reduction in the body temperature and motility of mice. 100 mg/kg of PMM lowers the levels of noradrenaline (NA) and raises 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylethyleneglycol (MHPG) in the telencephalon. A similar dose increased striatal levels of dopamine (DA) metabolites, homovanillic acid (HVA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), at earlier times (30 min), reducing their levels at 2 hr. These effects disappear at longer times (4 hr). No changes were observed in the levels of 3-methoxytyramine (3-MT), the extraneuronal metabolite of DA. The serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5HIAA) was almost not affected. PMM and its metabolites do not displace [3H]-spiroperidol from mouse striatal binding sites. These data show that some of the neurological effects induced by PMM are associated with changes in the metabolism and/or release of brain catecholamines but are not mediated by direct action on DA receptors.

The pharmacokinetics (uptake and elimination) and pharmacodynamics (biochemical effects on monoamine systems) of morphine in the CNS were investigated concurrently. ICR mice, weighing about 25 g, were injected intravenously with several doses (2.5-80 mg/kg) of morphine. The animals were killed by microwave irradiation (5 kW, 0.6 sec) at 10 and 30 min, and 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24 hr after the injection. The intracerebral levels of morphine and metabolically related substances consisting of monoamines [noradrenaline, dopamine (DA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 3, 4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid [homovanillic acid (HVA)], 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), tyrosine and tryptophan] were determined in identical samples by a combination of organic extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection. The intracerebral level of morphine was found to depend on the dose injected, and the biological half-life of the drug was estimated to be about 1 hr. The morphine injection (2.5-80 mg/kg) caused significant increases in monoamine metabolites although only slight changes occurred in the concns of parent transmitters. The intracerebral level of morphine was significantly correlated with the ratios DOPAC/DA and HVA/DA (r = 0.7033, P less than 0.0001; and r = 0.6455, P less than 0.0001, respectively). On the other hand, the correlation between the morphine level and 5-HIAA/5-HT was lower than those for DOPAC/DA and HVA/DA. These results suggest that monoamine systems, especially DA, are closely involved in the biochemical effects of morphine. Furthermore, the proposed procedure is demonstrated to be useful as a new approach in biochemical pharmacology, where the direct correlation between the distribution of a drug (pharmacokinetics) and the biochemical effects of the drug (pharmacodynamics) can be measured.

The effects in rats of intraventricular injections of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) on the urinary excretion 1-3 weeks later of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethylene glycol (MHPG), 3,4-dihydroxyphenethanol (DHPE), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethanol (MHPE), p-hydroxyphenylglycol (pHPG), homovanillic acid (HVA) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) were examined. The excretion of MHPG was decreased to 63 and 71% of control on days 7 and 14, respectively, but had returned to control levels by day 23, even though the brain levels were decreased by 87%. Free and total HVA excretion was reduced on both days 7 and 23, but free and total DOPAC was reduced only on day 7. Based on these data, it can be estimated that about 39% of the free and 46% of the total HVA in urine originates in the CNS. The excretion of conjugated HVA was decreased by 70-80%, but this decrease does not support the notion that the conjugated form of HVA is derived principally from the brain and thus serves as a better marker of brain dopamine metabolism, since the level of this metabolite in the brain was not correspondingly decreased but was instead increased. Urinary DOPAC levels were generally more variable and derived to a greater extent from the periphery; therefore, DOPAC appears to be less suitable than HVA as a marker of brain dopamine. The results also indicate that as much as 35% of the urinary MHPG may originate in the CNS, although compensatory changes in catecholamine metabolism in either the brain or in the periphery may have somewhat influenced this estimate. The results also suggest that at least as much pHPG as MHPG in urine derives from the CNS. The data are consistent with the idea that the neutral dopamine metabolites largely derive from the brain, but the relatively small depletion in their brain levels produced by 6-OHDA prevented the exact proportion being determined accurately.

Adult male CD-1 mice were treated with various levels of vanadate in drinking water for 30 days. The levels of catecholamine and indoleamine neurotransmitters and their major metabolites were measured in six different brain regions. Vanadium caused a dose-related decrease in norepinephrine (NE) levels in hypothalamus, the region rich in this biogenic amine. Levels of the NE metabolite, vanillylmandelic acid (VMA), correspondingly decreased in the same region. Although hypothalamic dopamine (DA) also showed a significant decline, vanadium had little effect on DA metabolites. Levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) and its metabolite, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), were not influenced. Levels of DA were not affected in the corpus striatum, where the highest levels of this amine are observed. Effects of vanadium on various biogenic amines and their metabolites were only marginal in other brain regions. Results suggest that vanadium has a selective effect on adrenergic pathways, and effects on other hypothalamic amines appear to be secondary. These observations support the pro-oxidant potential of vanadate ion on catecholamines suggested earlier.