Monoamine oxidase (MAO) catalyzes the oxidative deamination of amines and neurotransmitters and is involved in mood disorders, depression, oxidative stress, and adverse pharmacological reactions. This work studies the inhibition of human MAO-A by Hypericum perforatum, Peganum harmala, and Lepidium meyenii, which are reported to improve and affect mood and mental conditions. Subsequently, the an...

p-Chloroamphetamine (PCA) causes a rapid and long-lasting depletion of serotonin in rat brain [l]. PCA is thought to affect serotonin neurons acutely by (a) inhibition of tryptophan hydroxylation, (b) release of vesicular bound serotonin, (c) inhibition of serotonin reuptake from the synaptic cleft, and (d) inhibition of serotonin oxidation by monoamine oxidase, and to produce neurotoxic degene...

Background and Aims: Nitric oxide (NO) has an essential role in inflammation and has been related to pathogenesis and the progress of numerous inflammatory-based diseases, including some cancers. Peganum harmala (P. harmala) is a medicinal plant used for the treatment of numerous diseases such as several infections. Also, anti-inflammatory effects of P. harmala extracts and its derivatives (har...

Guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) immunoreactivity in the rat's cerebellum was studied with light and electron microscopy by the indirect fluorescence method and the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. Labeled cells included neuroglial cells in the cerebellar cortex, white matter, and deep nuclei; some stellate and basket cells in the cortex; and some large neurons in the deep nuclei. N...

Ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity of Ehrlich carcinoma cells was increased more than 36-fold after being maintained for 3.5 hr in vitro in a special chamber which allowed continuous perifusion with 0.5 mM ornithine; if incubated in vitro without perifusion the ODC activity was, of course, only 9-fold by the same concentration of ornithine. Ornithine withdrawal from the perifusion medium re...

Transport of labeled glycyl-L-proline has been shown to occur with highly purified brush border membrane vesicles from the epithelial cells of rabbit small intestine and renal cortex. With 1-min incubation, transport occurs mainly as the intact dipeptide since less than 10% of the dipeptide in the medium is hydrolyzed within the period. The properties of the dipeptide transport system are simil...