THE NORMAL OCCURRENCE OF OCTOPAMINE IN NEURAL TISSUES OF THE <i>OCTOPUS</i> AND OTHER CEPHALOPODS

Abstract

Abstract— An enzymatic assay was used to measure the concentration of octopamine in tissue of cephalopods. The concentration of octopamine varied over a wide range in neural tissues of Octopi and other cephalopods. The administration of reserpine caused a fall in the concentration of octopamine while monoamine oxidase inhibition caused the concentration to rise. After density gradient centrifugation octopamine was found in the same regions of the gradients as were dopamine and noradrenaline. These findings suggest that octopamine may be involved in neuronal function in cephalopods.