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We determined in healthy subjects the pressor effect and the plasma level of free tyramine in response to intravenous and oral tyramine doses before and after therapeutic doses (3 X 100 mg/day) of moclobemide, a new reversible, preferential type A monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor. In fasting subjects moclobemide increased the pressor effect of intravenously and orally administered tyramine; the tyramine dose-pressor curve was shifted to the left by factors of 2.4 and 4.1, respectively. No increase in systolic blood pressure occurred at free plasma tyramine concentrations lower than 70 ng/ml before, and 20 ng/ml after, moclobemide. Peak plasma tyramine concentrations increased dose-dependently after oral tyramine; after moclobemide similar peak plasma concentrations of tyramine were obtained with 2.6 times smaller doses of tyramine. Thus, the potentiation by moclobemide of the pressor effect of oral tyramine appears to be due to inhibition of tyramine first-pass metabolism, as well as to inhibition of tyramine catabolism by MAO within adrenergic nerve terminals. The peak concentrations of free tyramine in plasma and the concomitant increase of systolic blood pressure were significantly (p less than 0.01) smaller when tyramine was administered with a meal (before or after moclobemide) than when given with tap water. We conclude that at doses of 3 X 100 mg/day moclobemide induces only a mild potentiation of the pressor effect of tyramine. This potentiation is virtually absent under natural conditions when tyramine is given with a meal.
In the perfused rabbit ear artery the basal outflows of noradrenaline (NA) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol (DOPEG) were less than 1 ng g-1 and 1-2 ng g-1 wet weight of tissue respectively. Field stimulation increased outflows of NA and DOPEG in a frequency-dependent manner, and they reached the maximum value at frequencies over 5 Hz. Tyramine (1 X 10(-6) -1 X 10(-4) M) increased basal outflow of NA and DOPEG, in a dose-dependent manner. This effect was not blocked by tetrodotoxin (TTX, 3 X 10(-7) M), but was prevented by pretreatment with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Tyramine increased the field stimulation-induced outflow of NA but not that of DOPEG in a dose-dependent manner. Cocaine (1 X 10(-5) M) reduced the increased outflow of NA induced by tyramine at rest and during field stimulation, without modifying DOPEG-outflow. Guanethidine (5 X 10(-6) M), increased outflows of NA and DOPEG at rest, and reduced the NA outflow induced by field stimulation. Pretreatment with guanethidine (5 X 10(-6) M) did not block the action of tyramine on NA and DOPEG basal outflows. Additional application of guanethidine during the presence of tyramine did reduce the outflow of NA induced by field stimulation, but did not modify the outflow of NA and DOPEG at rest. Tyramine at concentrations over 1 X 10(-5) M depolarized the smooth muscle membrane of the rabbit ear artery. After chemical denervation with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) the depolarizing action of tyramine was reduced. Tyramine-induced depolarization was attenuated by prazosin (5 X 10(-6) M) or phentolamine (5 X 10(-6) M), but not by guanethidine (5 X 10(-6) M). In 6-OHDA-denervated tissues, tyramine-induced depolarization was attenuated by phentolamine but not by prazosin. Field stimulation evoked excitatory junction potential (e.j.p.), slow depolarization and spike potential in the rabbit ear artery. Tyramine reduced, while guanethidine blocked these electrical responses. Tyramine did not alter the facilitation process of e.j.ps. In tissues pretreated with guanethidine, tyramine evoked either no electrical response or a slow depolarization during field stimulation. The slow depolarization was blocked by prazosin. Tyramine reduced the NA content of tissues in a dose-dependent manner (by 31% at 10(-4) M). Guanethidine (5 X 10(-6) M) reduced the NA content by 20%. 10 We conclude that in the rabbit ear artery, tyramine depolarizes the smooth muscle membrane indirectly by releasing neuronal NA which acts on alpha-adrenoceptors, and directly by an action on the smooth muscle cells. Two NA compartments (guanethidine-sensitive and tyramine-sensitive NA) could be identified. Field stimulation releases the former with associated generation of ej.p. and slow depolarization whilst the release of the latter is not accompanied by ej.p. generation.
Visualization of the tyraminergic innervation of the oviducts was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry, and the presence of tyramine was confirmed using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrochemical detection. Oviducts incubated in high-potassium saline released tyramine in a calcium-dependent manner. Stimulation of the oviducal nerves also resulted in tyramine release, suggesting that tyramine might function as a neurotransmitter/neuromodulator at the locust oviducts. Tyramine decreased the basal tension, and also attenuated proctolin-induced contractions in a dose-dependent manner over a range of doses between 10(-7) and 10(-4) M. Low concentrations of tyramine attenuated forskolin-stimulated cyclic AMP levels in a dose-dependent manner. This effect was not blocked by yohimbine. High concentrations of tyramine increased basal cyclic AMP levels of locust oviducts in a dose-dependent manner; however, the increases in cyclic AMP were only evident at the highest concentrations tested, 5 x 10(-5) and 10(-4) M tyramine. The tyramine-induced increase in cyclic AMP shared a similar pharmacological profile with the octopamine-induced increase in cyclic AMP. Tyramine increased the amplitude of excitatory junction potentials at low concentrations while hyperpolarizing the membrane potential by 2-5 mV. A further increase in the amplitude of the excitatory junction potentials and the occurrence of an active response was seen upon washing tyramine from the preparation. These results suggest that tyramine can activate at least three different endogenous receptors on the locust oviducts a putative tyramine receptor at low concentrations, a different tyramine receptor to inhibit muscle contraction, and an octopamine receptor at high concentrations.
1 The technique of microelectrophoresis was used in order to compare the actions of tyramine and noradrenaline on single neurones in the cerebral cortex of the rat.2 Tyramine could both excite and depress cortical neurones. Each tyramine-sensitive cell was also sensitive to noradrenaline. There was a high correlation between the directions of responses to tyramine and noradrenaline, most cells excited by tyramine being excited by noradrenaline, and most cells depressed by tyramine being depressed by noradrenaline.3 In the case of both excitatory and depressant responses, tyramine appeared to be less potent than noradrenaline.4 Tyramine evoked ;slower' responses than noradrenaline, both the latencies to onset and the recovery times being longer for responses to tyramine than for responses to noradrenaline.5 When the rates of release of tyramine and noradrenaline from micropipettes were measured in vitro, no significant difference could be observed between the transport numbers of the two drugs. Thus the difference in potency between the two drugs, and the difference in the time courses of responses to the two drugs, are presumably of biological origin.6 Desipramine could discriminate between neuronal responses to tyramine and noradrenaline: responses to tyramine were antagonized, while responses to noradrenaline were either potentiated or unaffected. Responses to DL-homocysteic acid were not affected by desipramine.7 The results are consistent with the hypothesis that tyramine is an indirectly acting sympathomimetic amine in the brain, and desipramine acts by blocking the uptake of both tyramine and noradrenaline into presynaptic noradrenergic nerve terminals.
UNLABELLED: Because nothing is known about whether metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) has tyramine-like actions, the sympathomimetic effects of MIBG were determined in the isolated rabbit heart and compared with those of tyramine. METHODS: Spontaneously beating rabbit hearts were perfused with Tyrode's solution (Langendorff technique; 37 degrees C; 26 mL/min), and the heart rate as well as the norepinephrine and dopamine overflow into the perfusate was measured before and after doses of MIBG or tyramine (0.03-10 micromol) given as bolus injections (100 microL) into the aortic cannula. Km and Vmax values for the neuronal uptake (uptake1) of 125I-MIBG and 14C-tyramine were obtained in human neuroblastoma (SK-N-SH) cells. The Ki of MIBG for inhibition of the 3H-catecholamine uptake mediated by the vesicular monoamine transporter was determined in membrane vesicles obtained from bovine chromaffin granules and compared with the previously reported Ki value for tyramine determined under identical experimental conditions. RESULTS: By producing increases in heart rate and norepinephrine overflow, both compounds had dose-dependent sympathomimetic effects in the rabbit heart. MIBG was much less effective than tyramine in increasing heart rate (maximum effect 59 versus 156 beats/min) and norepinephrine overflow (maximum effect 35 versus 218 pmol/g). Tyramine also caused increases in dopamine overflow, whereas MIBG was a poor dopamine releaser. At a dose of 10 micromol, the increase in heart rate lasted more than 60 min after MIBG and about 20 min after tyramine injection. Accordingly, the norepinephrine overflow caused by 10 micromol MIBG and tyramine declined with half-lives of 57.8 and 2.2 min, respectively. The effects of both drugs were drastically reduced in hearts exposed to 2 micromol/L desipramine. The kinetic parameters characterizing the saturation of neuronal uptake by 125I-MIBG and 14C-tyramine were similar for the two compounds: Km values of MIBG and tyramine were 1.6 and 1.7 micromol/L, respectively, and Vmax values of MIBG and tyramine were 43 and 37 pmol/mg protein/min, respectively. However, in inhibiting the vesicular 3H-catecholamine uptake, MIBG was eight times less potent than tyramine. CONCLUSION: MIBG is much less effective than tyramine as an indirect sympathomimetic agent. This is probably a result of its relatively low affinity for the vesicular monoamine transporter and explains the relatively poor ability of the drug to mobilize norepinephrine stored in synaptic vesicles. The long duration of MIBG action results primarily from the drug not being metabolized by monoamine oxidase. The sympathomimetic effects of MIBG described here are not likely to come into play in patients given diagnostic or common therapeutic doses of radioiodinated MIBG.
The participation of tyramine oxidase in the regulation of arylsulfatase synthesis in Salmonella typhimurium was studied. Arylsulfatase synthesis was repressed by inorganic sulfate, cysteine, methionine, or taurine. This repression was relieved by tyramine, octopamine, or dopamine, which induced tyramine oxidase synthesis, although the level of arylsulfatase activity was very low. The induction of tyramine oxidase and derepression of arylsulfatase by tyramine were strongly inhibited by glucose and ammonium chloride, and the repression of both enzymes was relieved by use of xylose as a carbon source after consumption of glucose or by use of tyramine as the sole source of nitrogen, irrespective of the carbon source used. The initial rates of tyramine uptake by cells grown with glucose and xylose were similar. Results with tyramine oxidase-constitutive mutants showed that constitutive expression of the tyramine oxidase gene resulted in derepression of arylsulfatase synthesis in the absence of tyramine. Thus, catabolite and ammonium repressions of arylsulfatase synthesis and the induction of the enzyme by tyramine seem to reflect the levels of tyramine oxidase synthesis. These results in S. typhimurium support our previous finding that the specific regulation system of arylsulfatase synthesis by tyramine oxidase is conserved in enteric bacteria.
Tyramine challenge studies have demonstrated that it requires approximately twice the amount of tyramine administered with a meal compared to administration after a fast to elicit the same effect, suggesting a reduction in bioavailability of tyramine when administered with food. The pharmacokinetics of tyramine when administered in a fasted versus a fed state were studied. A single 200-mg dose of tyramine was administered orally to healthy subjects both after an overnight fast and during a meal. Systemic exposure to tyramine was reduced by 53% (p < 0.05), and the maximum concentration of tyramine was reduced by 72% (p < 0.05) when the dose was administered during a meal. Tyramine maximum serum concentration was observed between 20 minutes and 1 hour when the dose was administered after an overnight fast and appeared to be delayed and/or prolonged by administration during a meal. Tyramine oral clearance was 135 +/- 55.4 L/min, maximum observed serum concentration was 37.7 +/- 26.01 ng/mL, and tyramine elimination half-life was 0.533 (range: 0.330-0.668) hours after administration to fasted subjects. Tyramine bioavailability was significantly reduced when administered with a meal compared to after a fast. The results suggest that larger amounts of dietary tyramine will be required to induce a pressor response equivalent to that following encapsulated tyramine administered in the fasted state.
The kinetic and pharmacological properties of [3H]tyramine and [3H]octopamine binding to membrane preparations of locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides) brain were studied to characterize the tyramine and octopamine receptors. [3H]Tyramine and [3H]octopamine bind specifically and reversibly to the locust brain membrane with equilibrium achieved after 20 min. The dissociation of [3H]tyramine is monophasic while that of the [3H]octopamine shows a biphasic tendency. Scatchard analysis of the saturation curves reveals a single high affinity binding site for each of tyramine and octopamine. The mean (+/- S.E.M.) values of Kd and Bmax are 6.11 +/- 0.71 nM and 21.45 +/- 3.0 fmol/mg tissue for tyramine and 5.65 +/- 0.91 nM and 15.0 +/- 2.4 fmol/mg tissue for octopamine, respectively. Pharmacological analysis of the binding suggests the presence of both tyramine and octopamine receptors in the locust brain. alpha-Adrenergic agonists and antagonists have a high affinity to the octopamine but not the tyramine receptor whereas dopaminergic drugs have a higher affinity to the tyramine receptor than the octopamine receptor. No highly effective inhibitors of tyramine binding were identified. The serotonergic blockers, mianserin, LSD, BOL are effective blockers for both tyramine and octopamine receptors, whereas the serotonergic antagonist gramine is more active against the octopamine than the serotonin receptor. The results suggest that a G-protein binding mechanism is involved in the expression of both the tyramine and octopamine effects.
The tyramine receptor (TyrR) is a G protein-coupled receptor for trace amines, cloned in Drosophila melanogaster, and claimed to be either an octopamine receptor or a tyramine receptor. We previously reported that in the larval neuromuscular junctions, the modulatory effect on the excitatory junction potentials of tyramine is distinctly different from that of octopamine. The effect of tyramine but not of octopamine was selectively abolished in the TyrR mutant hono, suggesting that this gene encodes a receptor for tyramine, and not for octopamine. We examined whether there was a gene-dosage effect of this tyramine modulation using combinations of hono, deficiency (Df) and wild-type alleles. The tyramine effect was observed in hono heterozygotes (+/hono), which showed intermediate levels of response, but was not seen in +/Df or hono/Df hemizygotes. While these further suggest that tyramine is the true ligand, it is possible that the gene-dosage effect is only evident above some threshold of gene expression levels. Immunohistochemical staining using an anti-tyramine antibody identified tyramine-containing neurons in the larval central nervous system, some of which were distinct from the octopamine-containing neurons. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that tyramine functions as a neuromodulator.
The mechanism of increased sensitivity to oral tyramine in patients taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors was investigated by measurement of plasma norepinephrine and tyramine with a reversible, monoamine oxidase form A selective inhibitor, cimoxatone. In the first open study, the pressor activity of 80 mg oral tyramine after cimoxatone was of the order of that of 800 mg without the drug. In a second double-blind study, the equivalent tyramine dose was between 400 and 800 mg. Absorption of unmetabolized tyramine increased in the presence of cimoxatone. Peak plasma concentration of tyramine after an 80-mg dose was approximately three times that of placebo when given after cimoxatone. The plasma tyramine concentration required to induce a similar pressor effect averaged 130.5 ng ml-1 without pretreatment and 17.4 ng ml-1 after cimoxatone in the open study. Another plasma concentration, 16.4 ng ml-1, elicited a lower pressor effect in the double-blind study. The increased sensitivity to oral tyramine has two components: decreased presystemic clearance in the gut wall and increased sensitivity to circulating tyramine. The tyramine dose required to induce a pressor effect after cimoxatone is relatively higher than after irreversible inhibitors such as phenelzine. This may reflect the dose of cimoxatone used, the activity of monoamine oxidase form B (MAO-B) in the gut and liver or displacement of the predominantly reversible and predominantly competitive inhibitor, cimoxatone, from the enzyme by a high local tyramine concentration.
1. The isolated superfused vas deferens from the guinea-pig was more sensitive to the contractile action of noradrenaline than that from the rat. Tyramine had about 10% of the potency of noradrenaline on the rat vas deferens, but had no contractile activity on the guinea-pig vas deferens (potency less than 0.1% of noradrenaline). 2. The response of the guinea-pig vas deferens to noradrenaline was not affected by tyramine in a concentration that produced a clear contractile response of the rat vas deferens. 3. Noradrenaline and tyramine released less radioactivity from guinea-pig than from rat vasa deferentia in which noradrenergic transmitter stores had been labelled with 3H-noradrenaline. In vasa deferentia from either species, tyramine released less radioactivity than noradrenaline. 4. Pretreatment with the monoamine oxidase inhibitor iproniazid increased the amount of radioactivity released by tyramine from vasa deferentia of both species, increased the contractile response of the rat vas deferens to tyramine, and resulted in the appearance of a contractile response to tyramine in the guinea-pig vas deferens. 5. alpha-methyltyramine, which is not a substrate for monoamine oxidase, had about the same potency as tyramine in releasing radioactivity from vasa deferentia of both species, and in contracting the rat vas deferens, but was virtually without contractile activity on the guinea-pig vas deferens. 6. Pretreatment with iproniazid resulted in the appearance of a contractile response to alpha-methyltyramine in the guinea-pig vas deferens. 7. Pretreatment with iproniazid resulted in change in the composition of the radioactivity released by tyramine, with an increase in the proportion of noradrenaline and a decrease in the proportion of deaminated products. There was also an increase in the amount of endogenous noradrenaline released by tyramine. 8. It was concluded that the main factor accounting for the lack of reactivity of the guinea-pig vas deferens to tyramine is intraneuronal metabolism of the noradrenaline displaced by it.
1 The endogenous concentrations of p- and m-tyramine in the mouse striatum were determined by a mass spectrometric integrated ion current technique and concentrations were 21.3 and 6.1 ng/g, respectively.2 The present results further confirm that the administration of antipsychotic drugs (chlorpromazine, haloperidol, spiroperidol, alpha-flupenthixol and (+)-butaclamol) reduces p-tyramine concentrations in the mouse striatum. In contrast, striatal m-tyramine showed a tendency to increase, although only in the cases of haloperidol and (+)-butaclamol were the differences statistically significant.3 Administration of antipsychotic drugs to mice pretreated with tranylcypromine or clorgyline produced a significant reduction in striatal p-tyramine when compared with the concentrations obtained in mice given a monoamine oxidase inhibitor. These results suggest that antipsychotic drugs reduce striatal p-tyramine formation. The moderate increases produced by monoamine oxidase inhibitors on striatal m-tyramine were not significantly changed after the administration of an antipsychotic.4 Drugs that reduce dopamine turnover (apomorphine, piribedil, lergotrile, alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine) significantly increased the concentration of striatal p-tyramine. No significant changes were observed in striatal m-tyramine concentrations after apomorphine, piribedil or lergotrile; alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine produced a reduction in its concentration.5 Drugs that impair amine storage (reserpine, tetrabenazine, oxypertine) reduced striatal concentrations of p-tyramine. The m-tyramine concentrations were also reduced by reserpine or tetrabenazine.6 It is possible that striatal tyramines act as modulators, or transmitters, and control the activity of dopaminergic neurones.
The participation of tyramine oxidase in the regulation of arylsulfatase synthesis in Klebsiella aerogenes was studied. Arylsulfatase was synthesized when this organism was grown with methionine or taurine as the sulfur source (nonrepressing conditions) and was repressed by inorganic sulfate or cysteine; this repression was relieved by tyramine and related compounds (derepressing conditions). Under nonrepressing conditions, arylsulfatase synthesis was not regulated by tyramine oxidase synthesis. However, derepression of arylsulfatase and induction of tyramine oxidase synthesis by tyramine were both antagonized by glucose and other carbohydrate compounds. The derepressed synthesis of arylsulfatase, like that of tyramine oxidase, was released from catabolite repression by use of tyramine as the sole source of nitrogen. A mutant strain that exhibits constitutive synthesis of glutamine synthetase and high levels of histidase when grown in glucose-ammonium medium was subject to the catabolite repression of both tyramine oxidase and arylsulfatase syntheses. Mutants in which repression of arylsulfatase could not be relieved by tyramine could not utilize tyramine as the sole source of nitrogen and were defective in the gene for tyramine oxidase.
In a previous report, a consistent hypoprolactinemic effect of p-tyramine was observed in male rats under several experimental conditions in vivo. In the present experiments the action of p-tyramine on PRL release in vitro, or after challenge with different hyperprolactinemic drugs (serotonin, morphine, and TRH) was tested. Furthermore the participation of octopamine, a metabolite of tyramine, was evaluated with regard to the hypoprolactinemic action of the amine. P-Tyramine inhibited PRL release from hemipituitaries incubated in vitro at doses of 10(-4) and 10(-6) M (inhibition to 31% and 59% of control values, respectively). When tested for its ability to displace [3H]spiperone binding in vitro to a crude fraction of anterior pituitary membranes it was found that it did not compete with the D2 receptor labeled by [3H]spiperone, even at the concentration of 10(-4) M. P-Tyramine (40 mg/kg) antagonized the elevation of serum PRL levels by morphine, serotonin, and TRH. On the other hand, octopamine, which is formed from tyramine, also inhibited high PRL values found after stress, though the effective dose was higher than that of tyramine. Pretreatment with diethyldithiocarbanic acid, which inhibits conversion of p-tyramine to octopamine, did not modify the effect of tyramine in stress. The present results indicate that tyramine can inhibit PRL release due to certain drugs, by acting directly at the pituitary level. It does not displace [3H]spiperone binding from anterior pituitary membranes, and octopamine which lowers PRL release itself, cannot account for the effect of tyramine.
At concentrations higher than that required to produce maximal vasoconstriction, tyramine caused concentration-dependent relaxation of rat aortic strips contracted maximally by tyramine, norepinephrine, phenylephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, prostaglandin F2 alpha, endothelin, angiotensin II and potassium; isoproterenol did not relax potassium-contracted strips. The vasorelaxant effect of tyramine was not antagonized by propranolol, pindolol or nadolol, all of which markedly antagonized the effects of isoproterenol. The vasorelaxant activity of tyramine was endothelium-independent and not inhibited by hemoglobin, methylene blue or L-NG-nitro arginine; it did not exhibit tachyphylaxis and was neither inhibited by cocaine, guanethidine, reserpine and chemical sympathectomy nor by alpha adrenoceptor, dopamine receptor, 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor, histamine receptor and adenosine receptor antagonists. Inhibition of cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase and monamine oxidase activities did not decrease the vasorelaxant activity of tyramine. The vasorelaxant effect of tyramine was not decreased by altering external calcium from 0.25 to 4 mM nor was it potentiated by nifedipine. Phenylethylamine was the minimum structural requirement for this propranolol-resistant vasorelaxant activity; beta-carbon and 3-ring hydroxylation abolished this activity, but N-methylation partly overcame the effect of beta-hydroxylation. The vasopressor effect of tyramine in anesthetized rat was reversed to vasodepressor effect by phenoxybenzamine plus propranolol. The propranolol-resistant vasorelaxant effect of tyramine was also confirmed on isolated human placenta arteries. At vasorelaxant concentrations, tyramine did not increase cyclic GMP and cyclic AMP but inhibited inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate. It is suggested that at high concentrations tyramine and related phenylethylamines cause endothelium- and beta-2 adrenoceptor independent vasorelaxation either via specific tyramine receptors or nonselectively.
The augmentation by the cardioactive steroid acetylstrophanthidin of neurotransmitter release evoked by tyramine, and the dependence of the augmentation upon Na+, has been investigated in dog saphenous vein rings in which monoamine oxidase activity and uptake2 had been inhibited with pargyline and corticosterone respectively. High extracellular Na+ (Nao; 263 mmol/l) reduced basal efflux of 3H-compounds from the rings and also reduced tyramine-evoked efflux. Low Nao (25 mmol/l) increased basal efflux of 3H but reduced tyramine-evoked efflux. The increment in basal 3H-efflux caused by low Nao was cocaine-sensitive. A presumed increase in intracellular Na+ (Nai), produced by preincubating rings with acetylstrophanthidin in normal (143 mmol/l) or high Nao, augmented 3H-efflux evoked by subsequent incubation with tyramine in normal Nao. Pre-incubating rings with acetylstrophanthidin in low Nao, conditions which would not be expected to increase Nai, did not cause augmentation of the subsequent tyramine-evoked 3H-efflux. An increase in Nai, produced either as above or by pre-incubating rings in high Nao alone, reduced subsequent neuronal 14C-tyramine uptake. Low Nao present only during incubation reduced neuronal 14C-tyramine uptake, but high Nao present only during incubation did not increase neuronal 14C-tyramine uptake from that measured in normal Nao. The data are consistent with the following hypotheses: that tyramine uptake is dependent upon the prevailing inwardly directed Na+-gradient, that consequent noradrenaline efflux is Na+-gradient dependent and that the enhancement by acetylstrophanthidin of tyramine-evoked 3H-efflux is a consequence of the raised Nai caused by Na+,K+-ATPase inhibition.
The biogenic amine tyramine has been reported to stimulate in vitro glucose transport in adipocytes, cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle, and to improve in vivo glucose utilization in rats. These effects were dependent on amine oxidation, since they were blocked by inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (MAO) and semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO). We thus tested in this work whether a prolonged treatment with tyramine could improve glucose tolerance in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. First, tyramine content of standard rodent chow was determined by HPLC and daily tyramine intake of control rats was estimated to be around 26 micromol/kg body weight. Then, tyramine was administred during 3 weeks in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats at 29 micromol/kg by daily i.p. injection alone or together with vanadate 0.02 micromol/kg. In another group of diabetic rats, tyramine was subcutaneously delivered at 116 micromol/kg/day by osmotic minipumps. All tyramine treatments resulted in a decrease of the hyperglycemic responses to an i.p. glucose load. Adipocytes isolated from either untreated or treated diabetic rats were sensitive to the stimulation of glucose uptake by tyramine. However, diabetic animals receiving tyramine for three weeks did not recover from their hyperglycemia, hypoinsulinemia and glucosuria. These results show that the improvement of glucose tolerance induced by prolonged tyramine administration occurs in an insulin-depleted model and probably results from peripheral insulin-like actions of the oxidation of MAO/SSAO substrates, such as the stimulation of glucose uptake into adipocytes.