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Agmatine: an endogenous clonidine-displacing substance in the brain
journal contribution
posted on 1994-02-18, 00:00 authored by G Li, S Regunathan, Colin BarrowColin Barrow, J Eshraghi, R Cooper, D J ReisClonidine, an antihypertensive drug, binds to alpha 2-adrenergic and imidazoline receptors. The endogenous ligand for imidazoline receptors may be a clonidine-displacing substance, a small molecule isolated from bovine brain. This clonidine-displacing substance was purified and determined by mass spectroscopy to be agmatine (decarboxylated arginine), heretofore not detected in brain. Agmatine binds to alpha 2-adrenergic and imidazoline receptors and stimulates release of catecholamines from adrenal chromaffin cells. Its biosynthetic enzyme, arginine decarboxylase, is present in brain. Agmatine, locally synthesized, is an endogenous agonist at imidazoline receptors, a noncatecholamine ligand at alpha 2-adrenergic receptors and may act as a neurotransmitter.
History
Journal
ScienceVolume
263Issue
5149Pagination
966 - 969Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of ScienceLocation
Washington, D.C.Publisher DOI
ISSN
0036-8075eISSN
1095-9203Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
1994, American Association for the Advancement of ScienceUsage metrics
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