Inactivation of Monoamine Oxidase A by the Monoamine Oxidase B Inactivators 1-Phenylcyclopropylamine, 1-Benzylcyclopropylamine, and N-Cyclopropyl-α-methylbenzylamine

Three known mechanism-based inactivators of beef liver mitochondrial monoamine oxidase (MAO) B are tested as inactivators of human placental mitochondrial MAO A. 1-Phenylcyclopropylamine (1-PCPA), 1-benzylcyclopropylamine (1-BCPA), and N-cyclopropyl-α-methylbenzylamine (N-CαMBA) are time-dependent irreversible inactivators of MAO A. The K₁values for 1-PCPA and N-CαMBA, analogues of the MAO B substrate benzylamine, are much higher with MAO A than with MAO B. Evidence is presented to show that 1-PCPA inactivates MAO A by attachment to the flavin cofactor, unlike the reaction with MAO B in which 1-PCPA can attach to both a cysteine residue and the flavin [Silverman, R. B., & Zieske, P. A. (1985) Biochemistry 24, 2128–2138]. The reaction of 1-BCPA with MAO A was too slow to study in detail. N-CαMBA exhibits the same properties toward inactivation of MAO A that it does for inactivation of MAO B. Attachment in both cases is shown to be to one cysteine residue per enzyme molecule. The results with 1-PCPA indicate that the active site topographies of MAO A and MAO B are different. The ability of N-CαMBA to undergo attachment to a cysteine residue in both MAO A and MAO B may lead the way toward peptide mapping of the two isozymes in order to determine differences in their primary structures.