He went on to medical, and graduate neuroscience training at Harvard Medical School to write his PhD thesis on the neurochemistry
of tyrosine hydroxylase, the enzyme controlling dopamine biosynthesis.
Total neuron and length densities
of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), and serotonin transporter (SERT)- immunoreactive axons in the frontal cortex (areas 4, 9, and 32) of humans, chimpanzees, and moor macaques.
Accompanying this, vaccination with AFF 1 prevented 66 % of the loss
of tyrosine hydroxylase - staining (TH + — likely dopaminergic) neurons suffered by vehicle - treated mThy1 - AS mice (all Figure 1).
Not exact matches
Abbreviations: ACVR2A, activin A receptor type IIA; BMP, bone morphogenetic protein; BMPR, BMP receptor, type II; CNS, Central nervous system; DA, dopaminergic; DMEM / F12, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium nutrient mixture F - 12; E, embryonic day; GDF, growth differentiation factor; GO, gene ontology; KEGG, Kyoto encylopedia
of genes and genomes; MAPK, Mitogen - activated protein kinase; mDA, midbrain dopaminergic; PD, Parkinson's disease; RIPA, radioimmunoprecipitation assay; SN, Substantia nigra; TGF - β, transforming growth factor - β; TH,
tyrosine hydroxylase; VM, ventral midbrain / mesencephalon; Zeb2, Zinc finger E-box-binding homoeobox 2
Neuronal Grafts: Human - derived dopamine neurons thrive in the brain
of a monkey model
of PD, testing positive for both dopamine transporter (green) and
tyrosine hydroxylase (red).
Researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute and at the National Institutes
of Health are finding a connection between
tyrosine hydroxylase activity, thyroid hormone receptors, and depleted dopamine levels in the brain — particularly in the substantia nigra, a region associated with the movement difficulties characteristic
of Parkinson's disease.11, 12,13
Calcitriol, the hormonally active form
of vitamin D, accumulates in the adrenals, and this stimulates the production
of the gene for
tyrosine hydroxylase, which is involved in serotonin production.
The ring
of tyrosine is then hydroxylated to dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) by
tyrosine hydroxylase.
L -
tyrosine is the substrate for the production
of L - Dopa by
tyrosine hydroxylase, allowing survival
of dopamine signaling neurons.
[1] For those with phenylketonuria, however, a severe deficiency in the enzyme phenylalanine
hydroxylase prevents conversion
of phenylalanine to
tyrosine, making
tyrosine an essential amino acid for this population.