Distribution of aromatic l‐amino acid decarboxylase in tissues of skipjack tuna using l‐DOPA as the substrate

Abstract

Aromatic L‐amino acid decarboxylase activity was measured in brain, heart, intestine, kidney, liver, muscle, pyloric caeca, spleen and stomach of skipjack, using L‐3,4–dihydroxyphenylalanine as the substrate. Aromatic L‐amino acid decarboxylase activity was found to be present in all of the organs studied. The highest activity was found in the intestine (1774 μmol min −1 g−1 wet wt of tissue). The liver showed the lowest activity (48.7 umol min −1 g −1).