[Possible mechanism of selective inhibition of rat liver mitochondrial monoamine oxidase by chlorgiline and deprenyl].

The inhibition of the deamination of serotonin (the main substrate of monoamine oxidase (MAO) type A) by chlorgiline and deprenyl and of beta-phenylethylamine (the main substrate of the B type MAO) by fragments of rat liver mitochondrial membrane as well as the influence of 4-ethylpyridine on this process were studied. It was shown that the MAO activity of the mitochondrial membrane fragments was highly sensitive to chlorgiline, when serotonin was used as substrate, whereas a high sensitivity toward deprenyl was observed with beta-phenylethylamine as substrate. 4-Ethylpyridine (5.10(-3) M), a competitive and reversible inhibitor of the MAO activity, inhibited deamination of serotonin and beta-phenylethylamine by 34 and 30%, respectively. In experiments with chlorgiline (the specific inhibitor of MAO type A) 4-ethylpyridine (5.10(-3) M) introduced into the samples after preincubation of mitochondria with increasing concentrations of chlorgiline (30 min, 23 degrees C) decreased the inhibition by chlorgiline of the deamination of beta-phenylethylamine, but sharply increased the inhibitory effect of chlorgiline on the oxidation of serotonin. In analogous experiments with deprenyl (the specific inhibitor of MAO type B) 4-ethylpyridine (5.10(-3) M) decreased the inhibitory effect of deprenyl not only on the deamination of serotonin (substrate of MAO A), but also on the oxidation of beta-phenylethylamine (the main substrate of MAO type B). The decrease in the inhibitory effect of deprenyl on the deamination of beta-phenylethylamine after the addition of 4-ethylpyridine may be intensified upon preincubation of deprenyl with mitochondria in the presence of 4-ethylpyridine. The data obtained demonstrate the difference in the type and mechanism of inhibition of the deamination of serotonin by chlorgiline as well as in the type and mechanism of oxidation of beta-phenylethylamine by deprenyl. The possible mechanism of selective blocking of MAO activity by chlorgiline and deprenyl was discussed in terms of our previous data on the existence in the active center of mitochondrial MAO of specific sites for substrate binding, differing in their structure-functional characteristics.