Diurnal variations of s-adenosyl-l-methionine and adenosine content in the rat pineal gland

doi:10.1016/0024-3205(84)90253-4

Life Sciences

Volume 35, Issue 6, 6 August 1984, Pages 589-596

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Abstract

S-adenosylmethionine and adenosine levels in the rat pineal gland were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography after fractionation of the pineal extracts. The concentration of S-adenosylmethionine follows a circadian rhythm and is about three times higher during the day (2.5 nmol/gland) than the night (1.1 nmol/gland). The variations in the level of adenosine are apparently more complex. Over the 24 hours period there are two maxima at 03.00 (120 pmol/gland) and 15.00 hrs (100 pmol/gland) and one minimum at 09.00 hrs (50 pmol/gland). In addition, only an ultradian rhythm with a period of 12 hrs and an acrophase of 3 hrs can be evinced by computer analysis.

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Its acrophase pattern seems to be opposite to the tryptophan pattern, i.e., during the day, in the stage of wakefulness and with a greater likelihood of infant activity. Finally, it is during the mature stage where the circadian rhythms of the activity-promoting neuroactive amino acids unfold: phenylalanine, an essential amino acid; tyrosine, precursor of norepinephrine and epinephrine (Hunsley and Palmiter 2004, Mitchell and Weinshenker 2010); methionine, an essential amino acid and precursor of acetylcholine (Sugimoto et al. 1964, Chabannes et al. 1984, Sánchez et al. 2010); and aspartic acid and glycine, activity neurotransmitters exhibited an acrophase during wakefulness (Shubat et al. 1989). Histidine results were unexpected because this amino acid is the histamine precursor – an excitatory neurotransmitter (Monti 1993) – and its acrophase is unforeseen given that it occurs during the period of darkness, i.e., when there is a greater tendency to sleep.
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Diurnal variations of s-adenosyl-l-methionine and adenosine content in the rat pineal gland

Abstract

Life Sci.

Gen. Comp. Endocrinol.

J. Biol. Chem.

J. Biol. Chem.

J. Biol. Chem.

Life Sci.

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA

Mol. Pharmacol.

Science

Mol. Cell. Biochem.

Science