PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF L-DEPRENYL (SELEGILINE) AND OTHER SELECTIVE MONOAMINE-OXIDASE-B INHIBITOR

The acetylenic selective monoamine oxidase (MAO) type B suicide inhibi tor, l-deprenyl (l-selegiline), has proved to be a useful adjuvant to L-dopa therapy and monotherapy of Parkinson's disease. Although not al l features of its antiParkinson action are known, studies that used br ains obtained at autopsy from patients who took l-deprenyl show that t he selective inhibition of MAO-B with a concomitant increase of phenyl ethylamine and dopamine, but not of serotonin or noradrenaline, in the basal ganglia may be responsible for its mode of action. The increase d Life expectancy noted in patients with Parkinson's disease who recei ved long-term therapy (9 years in an uncontrolled study) is another un expected feature of the drug. These exciting data, if confirmed in oth er long-term clinical trials, may herald a neuroprotective approach to the treatment of this degenerative disease. More recent studies indic ate that Parkinson's disease may eventually turn out to be a neurotoxi c event resulting from oxidative stress-induced free radical species i n the substantia nigra. Thus selective MAO-B inhibitors could represen t a unique class of drugs, having symptomatic actions with possible ne uroprotective and neurorescue actions in one.