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Octopamine in the Lobster Nervous System

Nature New Biology volume 236, pages 61–63 (1972)Cite this article

Abstract

A search for catecholamines which might serve as transmitters in the lobster nervous system demonstrated only small amounts of dopamine (about 0.2 µg/g tissue) and failed to detect noradrenaline or adrenaline (limit of sensitivity, 0.1 µg g−1) (unpublished results of D. L. B., using standard procedures for isolation of catecholamines on alumina1 and fluorescence assays1,2). Octopamine (the phenol analogue of noradrenalin, Fig. 1) occurs in large amounts in the posterior salivary glands of Octopus vulgaris3 and recently has been identified as a normal minor constituent of sympathetically innervated tissues of rat4. The possible occurrence of octopamine or other phenolamines in the lobster was therefore investigated. Here we report the presence of octopamine in the lobster nervous system, its endogenous distribution and its biosynthesis from tyrosine.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. DAVID L. BARKER

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, 97403

  2. PERRY B. MOLINOFF

    Present address: Department of Biophysics, University College London, London, WC1

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115

    DAVID L. BARKER

  2. Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014

    PERRY B. MOLINOFF

  3. Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115

    EDWARD A. KRAVITZ

Authors
  1. DAVID L. BARKER
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  2. PERRY B. MOLINOFF
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  3. EDWARD A. KRAVITZ
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BARKER, D., MOLINOFF, P. & KRAVITZ, E. Octopamine in the Lobster Nervous System. Nature New Biology 236, 61–63 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio236061a0

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