The Therapeutic Place and Value of Present and Future MAO-B Inhibitors — l-Deprenyl as the Gold Standard
The Therapeutic Place and Value of Present and Future MAO-B Inhibitors — l-Deprenyl as the Gold Standard
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Original abstract
The establishment of MAO inhibitors in the early 1960s failed, not because of the lack of intended efficacy but because of accompanying side-effects, e.g., hypotension and hypertension, psychic alteration, and hepatotoxicity. With Johnston’s discovery in 1968 of the multiple forms (MAO-A, MAO-B), selective MAO inhibitors could be developed for the first time that considered substrate specificity. Thus, there was hope to reduce the initially observed side-effects. l-Deprenyl (selegiline), synthesized by Ecsery and developed as an antidepressant drug by Knoll, was such a substance. As an antidepressant l-deprenyl did not succeed, but as an anti-Parkinson drug it did [1]. Meanwhile, l-deprenyl has become the “gold standard” of MAO inhibitors. The clinical and theoretical innovations of the last decade have been decisively marked by l-deprenyl since it unites many synergistic biochemical and pharmacological properties. Any new MAO-B inhibitor must have comparable properties since they determine the therapeutic value. Some of these new inhibitors will be reviewed here in comparison to l-deprenyl.