Short review on monoamine oxidase and its inhibitors.

Since monoamine oxidase is an enzyme catalyzing bioactive monoamines, inhibitors of monoamines are expected to prolong the activity of monoamines in tissue. Monoamine oxidase type B is an active form in brain, and its preferential substrate is dopamine that is the most constantly reduced monoamine in Parkinson's disease brain. Therefore, it is natural to expect that monoamine oxidase inhibitors, deprenyl or lazabemide, could exhibit beneficial effects on parkinsonism, i.e. symptomatic effects. This short review summarizes characteristics of monoamine oxidase from biochemical and pharmacological points, and then briefly mentions the situation of clinical evaluation studies of deprenyl and lazabemide in terms of antiparkinsonian effects in Japan.