Nigrostriatal monoamine oxidase A and B in aging squirrel monkeys and C57BL/6 mice

In this study we assessed the two forms of monoamine oxidase (MAO) in the caudate, putamen, and substantia nigra of young (4-year-old), intermediate-aged (11-year-old), and aged (20-year-old) squirrel monkeys and in the striata of young (2-month-old) and older (10-month-old) C57Bl/6 mice. MAO A and B activities were determined by measuring the rate of oxidation of the specific substrates phenethylamine and serotonin. In squirrel monkey, the vast majority of MAO activity was MAO B with activity of this isoform 10 times greater than of MAO A, while in mice the activity of the two forms was approximately equivalent. Although mice demonstrated nearly twofold selective increases in striatal MAO B between 2 and 10 months of age, neither MAO B nor A showed statistically significant changes with age in squirrel monkeys. These results document the marked differences between nonhuman primates and rodents with respect to the relative activities and the effects of age on MAO A and B, and indicate that increased MAO is not an inevitable feature of aging.