-DOPA, also known as levodopa and -3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, is an amino acid that is made and used as part of the normal biology of humans, as well as some animals and plants. Humans, as well as a portion of the other animals that utilize -DOPA in their biology, make it via biosynthesis from the amino acid -tyrosine. -DOPA is the precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and epinephrine (adrenaline), which are collectively known as catecholamines. Furthermore, -DOPA itself mediates neurotrophic factor release by the brain and CNS. -DOPA can be manufactured and in its pure form is sold as a psychoactive drug with the INN levodopa; trade names include Sinemet, Pharmacopa, Atamet, Stalevo, Madopar, and Prolopa. As a drug, it is used in the clinical treatment of Parkinson's disease and dopamine-responsive dystonia. -DOPA has a counterpart with opposite chirality, -DOPA. As is true for many molecules, the human body produces only one of these isomers (the -DOPA form). The enantiomeric purity of -DOPA may be analyzed by determination of the optical rotation or by chiral thin-layer chromatography (chiral TLC).

-DOPA, also known as levodopa and -3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, is an amino acid that is made and used as part of the normal biology of humans, as well as some animals and plants. Humans, as well as a portion of the other animals that utilize -DOPA in their biology, make it via biosynthesis from the amino acid -tyrosine. -DOPA is the precursor to the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and epinephrine (adrenaline), which are collectively known as catecholamines. Furthermore, -DOPA itself mediates neurotrophic factor release by the brain and CNS. -DOPA can be manufactured and in its pure form is sold as a psychoactive drug with the INN levodopa; trade names include Sinemet, Pharmacopa, Atamet, Stalevo, Madopar, and Prolopa. As a drug, it is used in the clinical treatment of Parkinson's disease and dopamine-responsive dystonia. -DOPA has a counterpart with opposite chirality, -DOPA. As is true for many molecules, the human body produces only one of these isomers (the -DOPA form). The enantiomeric purity of -DOPA may be analyzed by determination of the optical rotation or by chiral thin-layer chromatography (chiral TLC).