Old Antidepressant Protects the Heart
Reported January 08, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Animal experiments demonstrate new potential for a 40-year-old antidepressant.
A new study shows how clorgyline, an antidepressant no longer used by humans, can stall an elevated case of MAO-A, which ultimately leads to heart failure. Clorgyline has been found to block the action of enzyme monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) before it breaks down the key neurohormone norepinephrine in animal hearts.
Our study helps describe heart failure as a vicious chemical circle of stimulant norepinephrine overload and breakdown, and it offers a disease blueprint with monoamine oxidase-A as the target for drugs similar to clorgyline to rein in the disease,” senior study investigator Nazareno Paolocci, M.D., assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and at the University of Perugia in Italy, was quoted as saying.
Researchers caution that these studies are only initial proof of a possible important principle and that the use of this drug in humans to treat heart disease is far away.
SOURCE: Circulation Research, January 8, 2010