Monoamine oxidase (in other words, MAO) is an enzyme that is produced in the gastrointestinal tract of every person, and these enzymes serve to break down all substances that enter the food. In modern medicine, monoamine oxidase inhibitors are used to treat advanced cases of depression, when other methods of therapy have been useless. What is an MAO inhibitor can be understood with a simple example. For example, monoamine oxidase is involved in the cleavage of many derivatives of tryptamine.
MAO inhibitors - what is it? Application history
One of the derivatives of tryptamine is dimethyltryptamine, which can cause severe hallucinations. In ancient times, the Indians of many tribes mixed plants containing dimethyltryptamine with other plants that contained the so-called MAO inhibitors, due to which the activity of monoamine oxidase was suppressed, and the hallucinogenic substance began to act in the body. Such a drug received the catchy name “ayahuasca” or simply “yage”. As an inhibitor, the Indians used a liana of the species Banisteriopsis caapi, which includes substances such as harmalin beta-carboline and harmine.
To date, the seeds of Peganum harmala (Siberian rue) are considered the most common non-synthetic MAO inhibitors. The composition of this plant, as well as the composition of Banisteriopsis caapi vines, includes harmine, harmaline and some other alkaloids with a similar structure. And although harmine and harmaline are hallucinogens, which in addition in most cases cause side effects in the form of vomiting and convulsions, such effects can be seen only if you take too many of them.
Medical use
In modern medicine, MAO inhibitors (usually synthetic) are used to treat different types of depressive conditions. A distinctive feature of synthetic drugs is that the duration of their action, compared with harmaline and harmine, which act from several hours to a day, can reach even one to two weeks after the patient has stopped taking the drug.
Taking MAO inhibitors contains some risks that may appear if the patient does not follow a certain diet. The thing is that MAO inhibitors destroy tyramine contained in a very large number of products. In cases where monoxide oxidase ceases to function, tyramine enters the human body and causes effects such as high blood pressure, increased heart rate and the appearance of headaches. The greatest amount of tyramine is found in cheese (not processed), red wine, beer, smoked products, yeast, bananas, sauerkraut, legumes and poultry liver. In slightly lower concentrations, tyramine is found in citrus fruits, cocoa and chocolate, coffee, peanuts, walnuts and white wine. Due to the long-term use of synthetic MAO inhibitors, these products should be abandoned for the entire course of taking the drug and for two weeks after its completion. A strict diet is one of the fundamental principles for taking antidepressant therapy (if MAO inhibitors are used), as there are situations in which people are taken to hospital with a hypertensive crisis only because they eat inappropriate foods containing the composition of tyramine. To avoid such, by no means the most pleasant cases, before starting a course of therapy with monoamine oxidase inhibitors, you should carefully consult with your doctor about all the subtleties and nuances regarding taking the prescribed drugs. This will save not only your nerves, but also health, which can be significantly undermined by eating a small piece of cheese.