A sensitive and rapid fluorimetric assay for monoamine oxidase utilizing high pressure liquid chromatography

Monoamine oxidase A activity in fibroblasts as a functional confirmation of MAOA variants

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO‐A) deficiency is a rare inborn error of metabolism with impaired degradation of biogenic amines including 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT), resulting in borderline intellectual disability and behavioral abnormalities. Genetic variants in MAOA need functional confirmation to enable a definite diagnosis. To this end, we developed an inexpensive, simple and nonradioactive MAO‐A activity assay based on the conversion of 5‐HT into 5‐hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5‐HIAA). Fibroblast cell lysates were incubated with 5‐HT and aldehyde dehydrogenase to allow 5‐HIAA production. 5‐HIAA was quantified using high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection. We optimized reaction mixture components, pH, and substrate concentration and tested linearity and specificity of the assay. We verified the functional validity of the enzyme assay using fibroblasts of controls, female mutation carriers and MAO‐A deficient patients. This included a newly described patient with a novel MAOA variant (c.1336G>A, p.(Glu446Lys)), who represents the fifth MAO‐A deficiency family so far. The optimized enzyme assay showed good linearity and specificity. Application to clinical samples showed a 100% differentiation of affected patients (with negligible MAO‐A enzyme activity) and controls or mutation carriers. In conclusion, the described MAO‐A activity assay is easy to implement and can readily be used to test the pathogenicity of variants in the MAOA gene in a clinical setting. Especially in this era of whole‐exome (and whole‐genome) sequencing, this functional assay fulfills a clinical need for functional confirmation of a suspected diagnosis of MAO‐A deficiency.

Determination of monoamine oxidase B activity by high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method with electrochemical detection for measuring monoamine oxidase B activity in blood platelets is described. Dopamine is used as substrate and is incubated with isolated platelets and aldehyde dehydrogenase to convert dihydroxyphenylacetaldehyde to dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC). The acid and the added internal standard hydrocaffeic acid are separated from dopamine and the incubation mixture by extraction with 5 ml of ethyl acetate-toluene (5:1, v/v). The organic phase is evaporated under nitrogen stream and the residue dissolved in 0.1 M citric acid. Dihydroxyphenylacetic acid and the internal standard dihydrocaffeic acid are then separated on a Eurosphere 100-C18 5 microns column. The mobile phase used was a mixture of sodium acetate, citric acid, and acetonitrile at pH 2.5. The standard curve was linear from 125 pg to 10 ng. Absolute recovery of DOPAC was 85 +/- 3.8% and of hydrocaffeic acid 87 +/- 4.1%. The method presented is sensitive (detection limit 8.0 pg of DOPAC injected) and reproducible (coefficient of variation 0.4-1%) with good accuracy (94-98%).

On-line radiochemical assay for monoamine oxidase utilizing high-performance liquid chromatography

A fast and sensitive assay for the determination of monoamine oxidase activity was developed. The method is based on the separation and quantitation of 14C-labeled assay products by high-performance liquid chromatography, which is interfaced directly into a flow-through radioactivity detector. This allows on-line quantitation of the radioactive compounds with picomole sensitivity. The method makes possible the complete separation and detection of the deaminated products of monoamine oxidase A and B substrates benzylamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine, respectively. This assay has been applied to the measurement of monoamine oxidase A and B activities in rat brain.

Colorimetric assay for monoamine oxidase in tissues using peroxidase and 2,2'-azinodi(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) as chromogen

Monoamine oxidase is assayed in tissue by a colorimetric reaction using horse radish peroxidase and 2,2'-azinodi(ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid to measure H2O2 formed during oxidation of amines. The method has a coefficient of variation of approximately 2.5% and provides results comparable with those of radiometric assay. Monoamine oxidase activities in rat liver mitochondria and crude mitochondrial fraction from brain and with tyramine as a substrate were 18.9 +/- 0.4 and 4.61 +/- 0.15 nmol/min/mg of protein, respectively, using this method. Kinetic parameters of liver and brain monoamine oxidase with various substrates and inhibitors appeared to be the same when determined by either colorimetric or radiometric methods.

Assay for monoamine oxidases A and B by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A sensitive method for the assay of monoamine oxidases A and B is described which employs high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. Rat brain mitochondria were used as a preparation of the enzymes. p-Sulfamoylbenzaldehyde and benzaldehyde formed enzymatically from p-sulfamoylbenzylamine (the substrate of monoamine oxidase A) and benzylamine (the substrate of monoamine oxidase B), respectively, are converted simultaneously into fluorescent compounds with 2,2'-dithiobis(1-aminonaphthalene). These compounds are separated by reversed-phase chromatography on mu Bondapak CN. The limits of detection for p-sulfamoylbenzaldehyde and benzaldehyde formed enzymatically are 30 and 10 pmol per assay tube, respectively.

Use of high-performance liquid chromatography to study the caeruloplasmin-catalysed oxidation of biogenic amines. I. Single substrate systems

Reversed-phase ion-pair chromatography was used to monitor the oxidation of four biogenic amines (adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine and 5-hydroxytryptamine) by the copper-containing protein, caeruloplasmin. The methods are reproducible and sufficiently rapid to permit the handling of plasma sample batches. Kinetic parameters obtained using the method are in good agreement with those obtained by more traditional means of enzyme assay. Finally, the results support the view that more than one site on the enzyme, whether binding or oxidative, may be involved in the oxidation of biogenic amines, and the possible implications of this are briefly discussed.