The FASEB Journal, Vol 9, 605-610, Copyright © 1995 by The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

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Flauoprotein structure and mechanism 2. Monoamine oxidases: old friends hold many surprises

TP Singer and RR Ramsay
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of California San Francisco 94143, USA.

The two forms of monoamine oxidase (MAO), A and B, continue to be of major interest to biochemists, pharmacologists, neurologists, and gerontologists. Despite intensive study for more than half a century, unexpected and unique properties of these enzymes continue to come to light. Recent studies have centered on their kinetic mechanism, their unique predilection for substrates related to the neurotoxic tertiary amine MPTP, and their putative role in aging and in the etiology of neurodegenerative diseases. New and potent inhibitors of MAO A and MAO B continue to be developed because of their potential use in clinical medicine. Some are effective in the picomolar range but MAO B from different mammalian species shows remarkable differences in sensitivity to these agents.

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