著者

Toshiharu NAGATSU

出版者

The Japan Academy

雑誌

Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B (ISSN:03862208)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.82, no.10, pp.388-415, 2006 (Released:2007-01-12)

参考文献数

137

被引用文献数

31 50

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Catecholamines [dopamine, noradrenaline (norepinephrine), and adrenaline (epinephrine); CAs] are neurotransmitters in the central and peripheral nervous systems as well as hormones in the endocrine system. CAs in the brain play a central role in versatile functions as slow-acting neurotransmitters functioning in synaptic neurotransmission, modulating the effects of fast-acting neurotransmitters such as glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In this review, I focus on recent advances in the biochemistry and molecular biology of the CA system in humans in health and disease, especially in neuropsychiatric diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD), in relation to the biosynthesis of CAs regulated by a pteridine-dependent monooxygenase, tyrosine 3-monooxygenase (tyrosine hydroxylase, TH) and its pteridine cofactor, tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). (Communicated by Tamio YAMAKAWA, M.J.A.)