Abstract
The activities of monoamine oxidase (MAO) were measured with the type A substrate, serotonin, and the type B substrate, phenylethylamine (PE), in brain, heart, kidney, lung, liver and spleen of the golden hamster, rat and rabbit. The relative activities measured with these two substrates varied markedly between different organs of the same species and between the same organ of different species. The rabbit had the lowest A/B ratio for each of the organs examined. The A/B ratios in the hamster were comparable to those of the rat for each of the organs, except for a higher ratio in the brain and a lower ratio in the heart. The activity measured with PE for hamster brain was only 7 and 8 per cent of the corresponding activity in the brain of the rat and rabbit, respectively. Studies using the selective inhibitors, clorgyline and deprenyl, in combination with selective substrates, indicated that the small amount of activity in hamster brain towards the substrate PE was, indeed, due to MAO-B rather than a nonspecific action of MAO-A. The advantages of this method for the detection of multiple forms of MAO, particularly when the amount of one form is very small as compared with the other, are discussed.
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