[Effect of acute and chronic ethanol consumption on rat brain and liver monoamine oxidase activity]

Monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity was studied in hyporthalamus, midbrain, brain stem and liver tissue of rats after single and repeated administration of ethanol using noradrenaline and dopamine as MAO substrates. Small, but statistically significant decrease in the activity MAO of the "A" type was found in rat liver tissue after repeated administration of alcohol. Both single and repeated administrations of ethanol did not affect the enzymatic activity in the brain. Prolonged administration of the MAO inhibitor parnate simultaneously with alcoholization of rats led to inhibition of the MAO activity to the same degree as in control animals treated with the parnate only.