A Peroxidase-linked Spectrophotometric Assay for the Detection of Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors

To develop a new more accurate spectrophotometric method for detecting monoamine oxidase inhibitors from plant extracts, a series of amine substrates were selected and their ability to be oxidized by monoamine oxidase was evaluated by the HPLC method and a new substrate was used to develop a peroxidase-linked spectrophotometric assay. 4-(Trifluoromethyl) benzylamine (11) was proved to be an excellent substrate for peroxidase-linked spectrophotometric assay. Therefore, a new peroxidase-linked spectrophotometric assay was set up. The principle of the method is that the MAO converts 11 into aldehyde, ammonia and hydrogen peroxide. In the presence of peroxidase, the hydrogen peroxide will oxidize 4-aminoantipyrine into oxidised 4-aminoantipyrine which can condense with vanillic acid to give a red quinoneimine dye. The production of the quinoneimine dye was detected at 490 nm by a microplate reader. The ⊿OD value between the blank group and blank negative control group in this new method is twice as much as that in Holt’s method, which enables the procedure to be more accurate and avoids the produce of false positive results. The new method will be helpful for researchers to screening monoamine oxidase inhibitors from deep-color plant extracts.