title: Carnosine: effect on aging-induced increase in brain regional monoamine oxidase-A activity.
abstract: Aging is a natural biological process associated with several neurological disorders along with the biochemical changes in brain. Aim of the present investigation is to study the effect of carnosine (0.5-2.5μg/kg/day, i.t. for 21 consecutive days) on aging-induced changes in brain regional (cerebral cortex, hippocampus, hypothalamus and pons-medulla) mitochondrial monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A) activity with its kinetic parameters. The results of the present study are: (1) The brain regional mitochondrial MAO-A activity and their kinetic parameters (except in Km of pons-medulla) were significantly increased with the increase of age (4-24 months), (2) Aging-induced increase of brain regional MAO-A activity including its Vmax were attenuated with higher dosages of carnosine (1.0-2.5μg/kg/day) and restored toward the activity that observed in young, though its lower dosage (0.5μg/kg/day) were ineffective in these brain regional MAO-A activity, (3) Carnosine at higher dosage in young rats, unlike aged rats significantly inhibited all the brain regional MAO-A activity by reducing their only Vmax excepting cerebral cortex, where Km was also significantly enhanced. These results suggest that carnosine attenuated the aging-induced increase of brain regional MAO-A activity by attenuating its kinetic parameters and restored toward the results of MAO-A activity that observed in corresponding brain regions of young rats.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Kolkata 700 019, India.
authors.forename: Soumyabrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banerjee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Kolkata 700 019, India. Electronic address: mrinalkp@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mrinal K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Poddar
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology*; D002336:Carnosine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D002336:Carnosine; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase
keywords: Aging; Brain regions; Carnosine; Monoamine oxidase-A activity