Ascorbic acid stimulates DOPA synthesis and tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression in the human neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH.

Ascorbic acid is well known to induce noradrenaline synthesis in sympathetic nervous cells. In a series of experiments we found that incubation of the neuroblastoma cell line SK-N-SH with ascorbic acid (100-500 microM) for 2 h results in a significantly enhanced synthesis of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and dopamine. Additionally, cDNA-polymerase chain reaction (cDNA-PCR) analysis of relative mRNA levels corresponding to the enzymes involved in catecholamine synthesis revealed a 3-fold increase of tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression after 5 days of incubation with ascorbic acid (200 microM), whereas expression of dopamine-beta-hydroxylase was found to be unaltered. In summary the data give evidence that ascorbic acid leads to enhanced DOPA production in SK-N-SH cells by two different mechanisms: at the metabolic level after short-term incubation and by increasing the tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression after long-term incubation. Based on these data we suppose that enhancement of DOPA synthesis by ascorbic acid may be useful in the treatment of early Parkinson's disease.