DIHYDROXYPHENYLALANINE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dihydroxyphenylalanine mean? 

• DIHYDROXYPHENYLALANINE (noun)
  The noun DIHYDROXYPHENYLALANINE has 1 sense:

1. amino acid that is formed in the liver and converted into dopamine in the brain

  Familiarity information: DIHYDROXYPHENYLALANINE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DIHYDROXYPHENYLALANINE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Amino acid that is formed in the liver and converted into dopamine in the brain

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

dihydroxyphenylalanine; dopa

Hypernyms ("dihydroxyphenylalanine" is a kind of...):

amino acid; aminoalkanoic acid (organic compounds containing an amino group and a carboxylic acid group)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dihydroxyphenylalanine"):

Bendopa; Brocadopa; L-dopa; Larodopa; levodopa (the levorotatory form of dopa (trade names Bendopa and Brocadopa and Larodopa); as a drug it is used to treat Parkinson's disease)

 Context examples 

Metyrosine competitively inhibits tyrosine 3-monooxygenase, an enzyme that activates molecular oxygen to catalyze the hydroxylation of tyrosine to dihydroxyphenylalanine (Dopa), an intermediate to catecholamine (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine) production.

(Metyrosine, NCI Thesaurus)

Entacapone is a selective and reversible inhibitor of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), which catalyzes the transfer of the methyl group of S-adenosyl-L-methionine to the phenolic group of substrates that contain a catechol structure including dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine) and their hydroxylated metabolites.

(Entacapone, NCI Thesaurus)