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Biomedical subjects

C Gibb

Publications and source records attributed to C Gibb.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Psychiatric morbidity, platelet monoamine oxidase and tribulin output in headache.

A significantly higher proportion of patients with headache showed scores in the psychopathological range of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) compared with controls, with ratings particularly high on the anxiety and depression subscales. Across the whole group, there was a significant negative correlation between platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity and GHQ score overall, and with the anxiety and depression subscales. There was a significant positive correlation between platelet MAO activity and urinary output of the endogenous MAO inhibitor, tribulin. Within the migraine group, there was a significant negative correlation between tribulin output and GHQ score. These findings suggest that the biochemical nature of the anxiety associated with migraine may differ from that in other conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder where high platelet MAO activity and high tribulin output have been reported.

Affective Symptoms

Red wine as a cause of migraine.

Patients with migraine who believed that red wine but not alcohol in general had a headache-provoking effect on them were challenged either with red wine or with a vodka and diluent mixture of equivalent alcohol content, both consumed cold out of dark bottles to disguise colour and flavour. The red wine, which had a negligible tyramine content, provoked a typical migraine attack in 9 of 11 such patients, whereas none of the 8 challenged with vodka had an attack. Neither red wine nor vodka provoked such episodes in other migrainous subjects or controls. These findings show that red wine contains a migraine-provoking agent that is neither alcohol nor tyramine.

Alcoholic Beverages

Platelet phenolsulphotransferase activity and 'abdominal migraine'.

Low platelet phenolsulphotransferase activity has been reported in adult patients with dietary sensitive migraine. Platelet activity of this enzyme was therefore measured in children having 'abdominal migraine' with probable dietary trigger and in controls. No significant difference was found in activity between the two groups. There was no significant correlation between platelet phenolsulphotransferase activity and age.

Abdomen

In vitro inhibition of phenolsulphotransferase by food and drink constituents.

Several natural and synthetic food and drink constituents were tested in vitro for their inhibitory actions on phenolsulphotransferase P and M (PST P, PST M) and monoamine oxidase A and B (MAO A, MAO B). Cyanidin 3-rutinoside, a simple anthocyanin, (+)-catechin, a flavanol, and carmoisine, a synthetic food colorant, were found to be particularly potent, reversible inhibitors of PST P. All inhibited this enzyme by 100% at a concentration of 5 microM and had an IC50 in the microM range. The effects of these compounds on PST M and MAO A and B were less pronounced. There was a considerable difference in the inhibitory ability of different purified anthocyanins but all were selective for PST P. Several other phenolic food colorants were also found to be specific inhibitors of PST P, though less potent in their actions. Tartrazine, a non-phenolic food colorant, had little effect. The phenolic extracts from two red wines were also found selectively to inhibit PST P in vitro, suggesting that it is within this fraction that these inhibitors are to be found. PST is an important enzyme involved in the inactivation of a wide range of exogenous and endogenous phenols. If such a degree of inhibition were to occur in vivo, potentially toxic concentrations of some phenolic substrates might result.

Anthocyanins

Analogues of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine as monoamine oxidase substrates: a second ring is not necessary.

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is oxidised to a neurotoxic metabolite by monoamine oxidase B (MAO B). Using two colorimetric assays, we have examined a range of its structural analogues as possible further substrates of this enzyme in order to identify the types of environmental or endogenous compounds that might also be neurotoxic. Compounds with fully saturated or unsaturated pyridine rings were not substrates; nor were a range of tetrahydro-beta-carbolines or isoquinolines. Four substrates for MAO were found, 1-methyl-4-(2'-methylphenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (2'-Me-MPTP), 4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (PTP), 4-(p-chlorophenyl)-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (Cl-PTP) and ethyl-1-methyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydro-4-pyridine-carboxylate (ethyl-MTP-carboxylate). Ethyl-MTP-carboxylate is of particular interest as it shows that a tetrahydropyridine without a phenyl ring can also be a substrate. Cl-PTP, PTP and ethyl-MTP-carboxylate appeared to be partially metabolised by MAO A. The inhibitor sensitivity of 2'-Me-MPTP oxidation was more complex.

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine

Selegiline and the prophylaxis of Parkinson's disease.

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) administration causes a Parkinson's disease like syndrome in man and primates, with selective degeneration of the substantia nigra. This discovery has raised the possibility that some environmental or endogenous toxin causes idiopathic Parkinson's disease. MPTP is oxidised to its neurotoxic metabolite, 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+) by monoamine oxidase B (MAO B). MPTP toxicity is prevented by pretreatment with the MAO B inhibitor selegiline ((-)-deprenyl). We have screened a range of structural analogues of MPTP as possible alternative substrates for the enzyme. All compounds which were found to be substrates for MAO B were tetrahydropyridines, some with substituents on the phenyl ring. The most interesting substrate, ethyl-MTP-carboxylate, did not have a phenyl ring. The precise histochemical localisation of MAO B within the rat and marmoset brain has been established. There was substantial activity within the nigrostriatal pathway of the marmoset; in comparison, the rat had only a low background MAO B level. These results may partially explain why the marmoset is more susceptible to the action of MPTP than the rat.

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine

Monoamine oxidase B(MAO-B) is the major catalyst for 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) oxidation in human brain and other tissues.

A new in vitro radiometric method has been developed for the direct assay of the oxidation of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydrophyridine (MPTP) to its main neurotoxic metabolite 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium. This assay has been used to show that the rate of oxidation of MPTP parallels that of phenylethylamine in a range of human and rodent tissues, providing strong evidence that this reaction is predominantly catalysed by monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B). In human brain the reaction was inhibited by selective doses of the MAO-B inhibitor (-)-deprenyl. When dopamine was added to the incubation mixture, products of MPTP oxidation appeared to form a complex with it.

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine

The role of MAO in MPTP toxicity--a review.

MPTP is oxidized to its toxic metabolite MPP+ by MAO B in both primate and rodent brains and this reaction can be inhibited by (-)-deprenyl. MPTP can also act as an inhibitor of both MAO A and B. There is some evidence that MAO B is localized predominantly in glia, and this would explain why dopamine uptake blockers also can prevent MPTP toxicity. The possibility that molecules with a similar action to MPTP cause idiopathic Parkinson's disease is discussed.

1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine