Dopamine is a monoamine oxidase B substrate in man

DURING the past decade, the central neurotransmitter, dopamine (DA), has been much studied for it is known to be involved in certain human disease states, Parkinsonism 1 preeminently, and rather more inferentially, schizophrenia 2 . DA is metabolised by monoamine oxidase (MAO) 3 , which catalyses th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1977-01, Vol.265 (5589), p.80-81
Main Authors: GLOVER, VIVETTE, SANDLER, M, OWEN, F, RILEY, G. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Blood Platelets - enzymology
Brain - enzymology
Dopamine - metabolism
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
letter
Mitochondria - metabolism
Monoamine Oxidase - metabolism
Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
multidisciplinary
Phenethylamines - metabolism
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Serotonin - metabolism
Synaptosomes - metabolism
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Summary:DURING the past decade, the central neurotransmitter, dopamine (DA), has been much studied for it is known to be involved in certain human disease states, Parkinsonism 1 preeminently, and rather more inferentially, schizophrenia 2 . DA is metabolised by monoamine oxidase (MAO) 3 , which catalyses the oxidative deamination of a wide range of monoamines 4,5 , including the neurotransmitters noradrenaline (NA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), and other amines such as tyramine, tryptamine and phenylethylamine (PEA). On the basis of animal studies with the inhibitors, clorgyline 6 , and later deprenil 7 , MAO has been classified into two types, A and B. By definition, type A is selectively inhibited by clorgyline and type B by deprenil. In general, type A acts on 5-HT 6 while type B prefers PEA 8 . In the rat, DA is preferentially deaminated by MAOA 9–11 . It thus seemed paradoxical that, in the treatment of Parkinsonism, addition of the MAOB inhibitor, deprenil, to a DA-generating drug combination should produce further therapeutic benefit 12 . In this report, we reconcile these apparently conflicting observations by demonstrating that, as far as DA oxidation is concerned, man may be different from rat: in two sites we have investigated, platelet and brain, DA is preferentially deaminated by an enzyme with the characteristics of MAOB.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/265080a0