Monoamine Oxidase activity inIraqi patients with metabolic syndrome

Monoamine oxidase is an enzyme responsible for the oxidative deamination of monoamines. As neurotransmitters, monoamines mediate the neural control on glucose metabolism by inhibiting insulin secretion. Hence, glucose levels in metabolic syndrome may be affected by monoamine oxidase activity. Consequently, this work aims to assess the role of MAO in metabolic syndrome. The activity of monoamine oxidase was simultaneously determined with the levels of glucose and insulin in sera samples from 100 volunteers with metabolic syndrome and the other 30 healthy controls. The result showed that all three variables were significantly higher in metabolic syndrome patients as compared to the control group. These data suggest that the observed over activity of MAO might play a role in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome.