Selective dopamine depletion within the medial prefrontal cortex in rats is known to enhance dopamine and norepinephrine levels in the nucleus accumbens and to induce characteristic behavioral disturbances. The present study was designed to determine levels of adrenaline, apart from dopamine and norepinephrine, and metabolites in the nucleus accumbens after prefrontocortical dopamine depletion....

Adrenal ganglioneuromas are rare tumors originating from the neural crest tissue of the sympathetic nervous system. The clinical presentation for most patients is asymptomatic, and most of these tumors are hormone silent. We report a case of dopamine-secreting adrenal ganglioneuroma associated with paroxysmal hypertensive attacks in an adult patient. A 46-year-old woman was admitted to our hosp...

Previous studies have shown that amphetamine and p-hydroxyamphetamine impair adrenergic transmission, and it has been suggested that this effect is mediated by an active metabolite, p-hydroxynorephedrine (PHN). Studies in experimental animals have shown that PHN can deplete and substitute for norepinephrine (NE) in the transmitter pool, thus meeting the criteria of a false neurotransmitter. The...

We report two families with Brunner syndrome living in one state of Australia. The first family had a predicted protein-truncating variant of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) (p.S251KfsX2). Affected males had mild intellectual disability (ID), obsessive behaviour, limited friendships and were introverted and placid during clinical interview. The family disclosed episodic explosive aggression after a ...

We describe the general aspects of ion chromatography and how on-line counted ion-exchange techniques can be utilized to determine pyruvic and lactic acids in plasma and vanillymandelic acid in urine. Pyruvate and lactate are extracted from deproteinized plasma by use of an ion-exclusion resin. After elution from the resin, the plasma extract is chromatographed on an anion-exchange column, with...

We describe a method for measurement of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxymandelic acid (vanillylmandelic acid, VMA) in urine. After the pH of the urine is adjusted to 2.7 and the sample is filtered, exactly 15 microL is injected onto a C-18 reversed-phase column. VMA is eluted from the column with 10 mmol/L phosphate buffer, pH 2.7, containing 30 mL of acetonitrile per liter. The eluate stream is combined wi...

1. We investigated the effects of the chronic administration of a sympathomimetic agent on energy expenditure, protein metabolism and levels of thyroid hormones and catecholamines in 10 obese subjects after a 6-week very-low-calorie-diet programme (1965 kJ, 60 g of protein, 45 g of carbohydrates). L-(-)-Ephedrine hydrochloride (50 mg three times a day by mouth) or placebo were administered duri...

A 57-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with abdominal pain in the left upper quadrant. She had left hemiplegia due to an intracranial hemorrhage 5 years previously, as well as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Her blood pressure was 190/100 mmHg. Laboratory data revealed a serum creatinine level of 1.2 mg/dL and a serum potassium level of 3.4 mEq/L. Magnetic resonance imaging of the...

Materials and methods We observed a 79-year-old patient suffering from high blood pressure and Alzheimer, with an history of periodic abdominal pain from almost 2 months and 10 Kg weight loss in the last month. In suspicious of a carcinoid, the patient underwent scintigraphy with In-111 showing the presence of two abnormal focal buildup of the trace compatible with the presence of a productive ...