Oxidative deamination of biogenic amines by intestinal amine oxidases: histamine is specifically inactivated by diamine oxidase.

The ability of the gut to inactivate various amines by oxidative deamination was tested with a 130-fold purified amine oxidase preparation from dog small intestine. Of 34 amines tested, putrescine, benzylamine, cadaverine, and serotonin were the most favourable substrates. Histamine was inactivated rapidly by this enzyme preparation, too. Histamine derivatives methylated at the imidazole nucleus were also deaminated, whereas Nalpha-methylhistamine was only a poor substrate and Nalpha, Nalpha-dimethylhistamine was not a substrate at all. Using a second procedure for the purification of amine oxidases from gut, the separation of a soluble monoamine oxidase from diamine oxidase was achieved by gel filtration on Sephadex G-200. The diamine oxidase deaminated putrescine (Km = 1.3 x 10(-4)M) and histamine (Km = 6.6 x 10(-5)M), but not serotonin, and was inhibited by aminoguanidine, but not by pargyline. The soluble monoamine oxidase inactivated serotonin (Km = 4.5 x 10(-4)M), but not histamine and putrescine and was inhibited by pargyline, but not by aminoguanidine. It was concluded that in dog small intestine (as well as in rabbit small intestine) only diamine oxidase was capable of inactivating histamine by oxidative deamination.