THE EFFECTS OF RESERPINE ON UPTAKE OF EPINEPHRINE IN BRAIN AND CERTAIN AREAS OUTSIDE THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER

¹ Department of Pharmacology and General Therapeutics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, England
² Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
³ Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology, National Heart Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

Intravenously administered epinephrine-H³ was taken up in the pineal body, area postrema, and intercolumnar tubercle of the cat in concentrations considerably in excess of those in parts of the brain lying within the blood-brain barrier.

The level of epinephrine-H³ in isolated brain tissue and pituitary slices that had been incubated with small amounts of labeled amine in vitro was higher than in the surrounding medium. The mechanism for concentration of epinephrine by these tissues became saturated at higher external concentrations of amine and was inhibited in reserpinized cats.

Administration of reserpine to cats greatly reduced the concentrations of epinephrine-H³ appearing in pituitary, liver and muscle after intravenous administration.