Catecholamines
Last modified: 02 September 2021, 11:58:55 AM AEST
Gems1 / 4
- adrenaline --()--> metanephrine
- noradrenaline --()--> nor-metanephrine
- dopamine --()--> 3-methoxytyramine (3MT)
Synthesis2 / 4
- produced by neuroendocrine tissue
- chromaffin cells of adrenal medulla
- sympathetic ganglia
Plasma 3MT3 / 4
- metabolite of dopamine
- dopamine-producing tumours
- superior to urinary dopamine, urinary 3-MT
- phaeochromocytoma and paraganglioma
- improves diagnostic sensitivity
- neuroblastoma
- superior diagnostic accuracy in children, over urinary homovanillic acid (HVA) and vanillylmandelic acid (VMA)