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In light of some recent postings regarding Monoamine Oxidase Inhbitors, Type A and B, one should be aware that the MAO-A inhibitor compounds have some serious side effects, and that both forms of MAO inhibitors do not fall into the category of "new" drugs. In 1928, Dr, Lewis Lewin started the use of drug called "banisterine" (an MAO Inhibitor) as a treatment for Parkinson's. By 1951, two MAO Inhibitors under the name of "Isoniazid and Iproniazid" were used in the treatment of tuberculosis. Because the drug "Iproniazid" actions on the body were not well understood at that time, it was shelved. In the early 1960s, Dr. J. P. Johnston of May & Baker's research labs in Dagenhan, England, discovered that M&B's compound #9302 (MAO inhibitor), when the level of inhibitory action was diagrammed, appeared to be two distinctly separate patterns. From this work, the two types of MAO inhibitors - A and B - were defined. Foods such cheese, beer, liver pate, red wine, and hors d'oeuvres are high in tyramine. With MAO-A inhibitors at work, tyramine is allowed to go unchecked and provokes its dangerous reactions of rapidly soaring blood pressure which can lead strokes and death. MAO-B inhibitor compounds do not have this reaction. Dr. Joseph Knoll, who almost did not survive WWII, developed an MAO, Type B inhibitor compound, known as selegiline hydrochloride. This drug inhibited tyramine and did not create the "cheese effect" of the Type A MAO inhibitors. Dr. Knoll's compound, selegiline, is also known as Compound E-250 at Chinoin Drug Company in Budapest, Jumex in Hungary where it was first marketed, Deprenyl in the UK and other parts of Europe, and Eldepryl in North America. This is a short "broad-brush" of the subject of MAO Inhibitors. References for more detail are: 1. "Parkinson's Diseare; The Mystery, the Search and the Promise": Dauphin, Pixel Press, ISBN # 0-9620354-1-6, pgs 99 - 132 2. "The Deprenyl Story": Dow, Stoddart Press, ISBN# 0-7737-2406-0 3. "Deprenyl in Parkinson's Disease: Guidelines for Clinicians": Royal Society of Medicine Services, London/New York, North American Round Table Series 4. "Banisterine and Parkinson's Disease": Juan Sanchez-Ramos, "Clinical Neuropharmacology" Vol 14, No. 5, Raven Press/NewYork, pgs 391 - 402 5. "Deprenyl (selegiline): the history of its development and pharmacological action", Joseph Knoll, "Acta Neurol Scand", 1983: 95:57-80, pgs 57 - 79 6. Joseph Knoll's unpublilshed life story in a personal letter to the author of Reference 1. 7. "Parkinson's Disease: The Facts", Gerald Stern and Andrew Lee, Oxford University Press, New York, 1982 8. "Some Clinical Implications of MAO-B Inhibition", "Monoamine Oxidase; Basic and Clinical Aspects" Joseph Knoll, Eds: H. Yasuahara et al, VSP Press/ Holland 9. "Oxidation reactions in Parkinson's disease", C. W. Olanow, "Neurology 40" (Suppl 3), October 1990, pgs 32 - 39 [log in to unmask]