The conjugation of tyramine with sulphate by liver and intestine of different animals

Tyramine was conjugated with sulphate by extracts of monkey intestine and livers of monkey, rat, mouse, guinea pig and man. The activity measured in monkey intestine was almost three times that of monkey liver. Labelled tyramine sulphate synthesized from [¹⁴C] tyramine, [³H] tyramine or Na₂³⁵SO₄, on acid hydrolysis, released its radioactive precursor. Liver extracts of monkey, rat, mouse and guinea pig synthesized respectively 145,66,21 and 6 pmol of [¹⁴C] tyramine sulphate/min per mg of protein. Except with the monkey, intestine exhibited very low activity. trans-2-Phenylcyclopropylamine, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, was added as a routine to the enzyme preparation, as its omission resulted in the production of p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid in appreciable amounts. This oxidative deamination of tyramine, however, did not decrease the sulpho-conjugation of tyramine. The low K_m (9.1 μM) of sulphotransferase for tyramine is probably responsible.