Abstract
FOR a number of years it was thought that the N and O-transmethylation of biogenic amines required S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) as the methyl donor, and that these transmethylation reactions did not involve folate derivatives1,2. It was therefore with interest that we read the report of N-methylation of dopamine by brain tissue in experiments in which 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5-MTHF) was used as the methyl donor3,4. Shortly thereafter our group and two others reported the N-methylation of a number of aryl-alkylamines, including tryptamine and serotonin, by brain enzymes that make use of this same folic acid derivative as a methyl donor. Enzymatic methylation reactions involving 5-MTHF, when compared with those involving SAM, have a relatively much higher total activity in spite of a lower affinity for biogenic amine substrates5–7.
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KOREVAAR, W., GEYER, M., KNAPP, S. et al. Regional Distribution of 5-Methyltetrahydrofolic Acid in Brain. Nature New Biology 245, 244–245 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio245244a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio245244a0
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