Type A monoamine oxidase catalyzes the intraneuronal deamination of dopamine within nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, tuberoinfundibular and tuberohypophyseal neurons in the rat.

Clorgyline (0.3-10 mg/kg, i.p.) inhibited type A monamine oxidase (5-hydroxytryptamine as substrate) but not type B monoamine oxidase (phenylethylamine as substrate) in homogenates of rat striatum and olfactory tubercle; deprenyl (0.3-3 mg/kg, i.p.) inhibited type B but not type A monoamine oxidase in these homogenates. The same doses of clorgyline increased concentrations of dopamine in striatum, and dopamine and norepinephrine in the olfactory tubercle, median eminence and posterior pituitary; they also reduced the concentrations of dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and the rate of synthesis of dopamine (DOPA accumulation after a decarboxylase inhibitor) in the same brain regions. On the other hand, the administration of deprenyl at doses that markedly inhibited type B monoamine oxidase did not alter the concentrations of dopamine, norepinephrine and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid or the rate of accumulation of DOPA in these brain regions. In addition, only clorgyline significantly lowered serum concentrations of prolactin. These results that type A monoamine oxidase catalyzes the intraneuronal deamination of dopamine within terminals of nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, tuberoinfundibular and tuberohypophyseal dopamine neurons.