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Evidence that most noradrenaline is stored without ATP in sympathetic large dense core nerve vesicles

Abstract

THE concept that catecholamine (CA) in sympathetic nerve vesicles is stored together with ATP, in a fixed molar ratio of 4/1, is so widely accepted that it is even quoted in general textbooks on physiology and pharmacology for medical students1–3. This fixed ratio of CA to ATP has been convincingly demonstrated in purified preparations of adrenomedullary vesicles4,5, whereas the evidence concerning the ratio of noradrenaline (NA) to ATP in sympathetic nerve vesicles has been based on preparations from bovine splenic nerves6–9, rat heart10 and rat vas deferens11 contaminated to an unspecified extent with other organelles such as mitochondria. The aim of the present study was to determine the molar NA/ATP ratio in a highly purified preparation of bovine splenic nerve vesicles.

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LAGERCRANTZ, H., STAJÄRNE, L. Evidence that most noradrenaline is stored without ATP in sympathetic large dense core nerve vesicles. Nature 249, 843–845 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/249843a0

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