NEW DEVELPOMENTS in MONOAMIN OXIDASE INHIBITORS

Akgül YESILADA*,o, Nesrin GÖKHAN*

*Hacettepe University, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharamaseutical Chemistry, 06100 Sihhiye, Ankara, TURKEY.
oCorresponding Author

Summary:
Depression is a psychiatric disorder,whose pathogenesis is not clarified yet. One of the approches used in depression therapy is inhibition of monoamine oxidase. MAO inhibitors(MAOI) show their effect by elevating the brain levels of catecholamins and 5-OH triyptamine. This group of drugs were introduced into therapy in 1950’s, but were drawn back due to their side effects. Today, owing to the development of new reversible drugs with less side effects, this group of MAOI’s have gained importance again. In this review, after briefly introducing the structure, anatomical distribution and enzyme-substrat interaction of MAO, known mechanism of action of classical MAOI’s were summarized while new generation MAOI’s were reviewed.

Key words:
Depression, Enzyme, Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), Mechanism-based, Reversible, Irreversible