Enzymes related to monoamine transmitter metabolism in brain microvessels

The activities of tyrosine hydroxylase, aromatic L-aminoacid decarboxylase, monoamine oxidase, and catechol-O-methyltransferase were measured in microvessel (capillaries and venules), parenchymal arterioles, and pial vessels from rat brains, and the decarboxylase activity was compared in brain microvessels from rabbit, cat, dog, pig, cow, baboon, and man. Cranial sympathectomy was performed to estimate the neuronal contribution to the enzyme activities. All vascular regions had substantial activities of the various enzymes studied. The activity of aromatic L-aminoacid decarboxylase in cerebral microvessels was high in rat, dog, pig, cow, and man; intermediate in rabbit and cat; and low in baboon. In addition to this enzyme, cerebral microvessels also contained tyrosine hydroxylase and monoamine oxidase. Aromatic aminoacid decarboxylase and monoamine oxidase serve an enzymatic barrier function at the microvascular level, whereas the main function of tyrosine hydroxylase is probably to synthesize monoamines within nerve terminals that remain in close association with microvessels under the conditions used for preparation of the microvascular fraction. In larger intracerebral and pial vessels monoamine oxidase was present both in the wall itself and in perivascular sympathetic nerves; the remaining two enzymes had a primarily neuronal localization. The latter types of vessels also contained catechol-O-methyltransferase in their walls.