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Metirosine (INN and BAN; α-Methyltyrosine, Metyrosine USAN, AMPT) is an antihypertensive drug. It inhibits the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase and, therefore, catecholamine synthesis, which, as a consequence, depletes the levels of the catecholamines dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline in the body.
Metirosine has been used in the treatment of pheochromocytoma. It is contra-indicated for the treatment of essential hypertension.
However it is now rarely used in medicine, its primary use being in scientific research to investigate the effects of catecholamine depletion on behaviour.
