Levo-Arterenol

A Review of Psychoendocrine Research on the Sympathetic-Adrenal Medullary System

“…The preparation of levoarterenol, an optically active form of norepinephrine, by Tainter et al in 1947 was also of considerable importance in establishing the physiological significance of norepinephrine, as only a physiologically inert racemic mixture of this compound had been available up to this point. 107 The knowledge that two separate hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, were involved in mediating the effects of the sympathetic-adrenal medullary system naturally raised the question of whether the two hormones are separately regulated or respond in a unitary fashion. Several different lines of early investigation appeared to lend support to the hypothesis that there may be differential secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine.…”

The DECARBOXYLATION OF Β‐3: 4‐DIHYDROXYPHENYLSERINE (NORADRENALINE CARBOXYLIC ACID)

“…The stereospecificity of the mammalian receptors has recently been studied by Tainter, Tullar, and Luduena (1948) That the first of these is in fact the structure of the acid is proved by the pharmacological assay on the spinal cat. The L-amino acid was found to be almost quantitatively decarboxylated and to have given rise to (-)-noradrenaline.…”

Visceral Functions of the Nervous System

“…In the studies comparing the properties of sympathin and norepinephrine the dl form of the compound has been used, but it has been postulated that the com pound occurs naturally in the laevo form. The I-norepinephrine is now available for the first time (52); and it is found to have a pressor potency approximately 60 per cent greater than that of I-epinephrine, whereas d-norepinephrine has a pressor potency only 3 to 4 per cent of that of I-epinephrine. Excised strips of ileum of the rabbit and guinea pig are rela,xed by I-norepinephrine to about the same degree as by I-epinephrine, but the latter is thirty time>; as potent as the former in relaxing the nonpregnant rat uterus.…”