Circuitry and functional aspects of the insular lobe in primates including humans

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors were among the first antidepressants to be discovered and have long been used as such. It now seems that many of these agents might have therapeutic value in several common neurodegenerative conditions, independently of their inhibition of monoamine oxidase activity. However, many claims and some counter-claims have been made about the physiological importance of these enzymes and the potential of their inhibitors. We evaluate these arguments in the light of what we know, and still have to learn, of the structure, function and genetics of the monoamine oxidases and the disparate actions of their inhibitors.

The therapeutic potential of monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

[Axelrod et al. (1958)][1] first described the enzyme-catalyzed O- methylation of catecholamines and other catechols in the late 1950s. The enzyme responsible for the O- methylation, catechol- O -methyltransferase (COMT; EC[2.1.1.6][2]),2 was partly purified and characterized by the same group ([

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT): biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, and clinical efficacy of the new selective COMT inhibitors.

Neuronal nicotinic receptors: from structure to pathology

Neuronal nicotinic receptors in the human brain

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) receptors in the human brain: quantitative autoradiographic localization.

Monoamine oxidase B in brains from patients with Alzheimer's disease: a biochemical and autoradiographical study.

A double-staining method was applied to cryosections of human spinal cord from patients who died with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and corresponding controls in order to investigate cellular content of monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B). 3H-L-Deprenyl emulsion autoradiography was used in combination with histochemical methods for the detection of astrocytes and monocytes/microglia. In the ALS spinal cords an increased number of astrocytes as well as an increased content of MAO-B in reactive species of astrocytes was demonstrated. No significant 3H-L-deprenyl binding was observed in cells derived from the mesoderm, e.g. monocytes or microglia. Furthermore, a sub-population of reactive astrocytes that contained low levels of MAO-B was observed in spinal sections. These findings were further substantiated by studies performed on primary astrocyte cultures.

S. S. Jossan

Papers

Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) receptors in the human brain: quantitative autoradiographic localization.

Monoamine oxidase B in brains from patients with Alzheimer's disease: a biochemical and autoradiographical study.

Reactive gliosis and monoamine oxidase B

Quantitative localization of human brain monoamine oxidase B by large section autoradiography using L-[3H]deprenyl.

Quantitative autoradiography of nicotinic receptors in large cryosections of human brain hemispheres