Catecholamines

Catecholamines are often neurotransmitters. They are involved in a number of diseases, including Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, depression, high blood pressure, etc. One theory is that "taraxein", the unknown toxic factor that causes schizophrenia, is a catecholamine, possibly DMPEA. There are also indoleamine theories, however.
The late Harold Himwich of Galesberg, Illinois, thought that a toxic methylated amine caused schizophrenia. He suspected bufotenin for years, but the evidence for bufotenin was equivocal. It seems that a spot similar to the bufotenin spot appeared on the chromatograms of patients with schizophrenia, but not on the chromatograms of normal controls. When bufotenin was given to animals, horrendous peripheral side effects occurred. This also happened with humans.

This 2-dimensional diagram of epinephrine is from Wikipedia. Note the methyl group and the nitrogen atom. Amines all contain nitrogen. Only methylated amines contain one or more methyl groups. Epinephrine is an important neurotransmitter.

Shown here is the stick model of tyrosine, taken from Wikipedia. Tyrosine is the father of catecholamines, although phenylalanine can produce tyrosine. Tyrosine is converted to L-DOPA, which is then converted into dopamine. The amino acid methionine is also used in the production of epinephrine.

This drawing of mescaline is from Wikipedia. Mescaline is a drug of abuse which causes hallucinations and other symptoms. Mescaline is a catecholamine. This strengthens the catecholamine hypothesis for schizophrenia.

Shown here is MDMA, the drawing taken from Wikipedia, a British site. This drug is also called "Ecstacy". The drug has a benzene ring, which is common in hallucinogenic substances.

This clipart of dopamine neurons comes from the www.nirs website, which is a brilliant educational site I am still exporing.

This picture of the adrenal glands viewed from the front is from the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy. The adrenal glands produce epinephrine as well as other hormones. Very little epinephrine is found in the brain, a fact which throws cold water on some old theoris of schizophrenia. The "adrenochrome hypothesis", which blames a toxic metabolite of epinephrine, is largely dead. Only Hoffer still believes in it.

Shown here is the stick model of methionine, taken from Wikipedia. This amino acid contains sulfur. Methionine is a methyl donor. It provides the methyl group for epinephrine and other methylated substances.

This drawing of amphetamine came from Wikipedia. Amphetamine, like other catecholamines, contains a benzene ring. Amphetamines produce a temporary psychosis.

This photo of Sir Bernard Katz is from a Swedish website. In 1970 Katz shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with Julius Axelrod of the U. S. and Ulf von Euler of Sweden. All three worked on neurotransmitters. Katz was born in Germany but later moved to England, perhaps because he was Jewish. A number of chatecholamines are neurotransmitters.

Shown here is a model of dopamine taken from a French website. The oxygen atoms are shown in red, and the nitrogen atom, making it an amine, is shown in blue. In actual fact the molecule is in three dimensions, but the model only shows two dimensions.