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On the Development and Utilization of Assays for Biological Transmethylation Involving S-Adenosylmethionine

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Transmethylations and the Central Nervous System

Part of the book series: Monographien aus dem Gesamtgebiete der Psychiatrie ((PSYCHIATRIE,volume 18))

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Abstract

For many years, there has been considerable interest in the chemistry and pharmacology of biological transmethylation in the field of neurophsychiatry. This interest was largely stimulated by the fact that many of the natural or synthetic substances which produce hallucinations or other features of psychotic illness are methylated amines — see (5). As early as 1952, Osmond and Smythies reported (73) a suggestion of the biochemist Har-ley-Mason that abnormal transmethylation of an endogenous amine, possibly dopamine, might produce a psychotomimetic compound like mescaline (3, 4, 5-trimethoxyphenyl-ethylamine). More direct evidence consistent with this hypothesis was the observation that methionine, uniquely among several amino acids, and especially when combined with an inhibitor or monoamine oxidase, led to striking but transient exacerbations of the psychotic symptoms of chronic schizophrenic patients (75). This clinical phenomenon is unique among biochemical findings in schizophrenia in that it has been confirmed by several groups and so far contradicted by none (1, 2,15, 21, 41, 49, 74, 86; see also 27, 29).

Based in part on material presented previously in: Baldessarini, R.J.: Biological transmethylation involving S-adenosylmethionine: Development of assays and implications for neuropsychiatry. Int. Rev. Neurobiol. 18, 41 (1945); and Baldessarini, R.J.: Sviluppo ed applicazione dei metodi per la determinazione delle transmetilazioni biologiche S-S-adenosilmetionina dipendenti; in: Transmetilazioni e Sistema Nervoso Centrale, Edi-zioni Minerva Medica, Roma, 1976, p. 51.

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  1. Psychobiological Research Laboratories. The Mailman Research Center, McLean Division of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, USA

    R. J. Baldessarini (Associate Director, Associate Professor of Psychiatry)

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 02114, USA

    R. J. Baldessarini (Associate Director, Associate Professor of Psychiatry)

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  1. Ospedali Neuropsichiatrici di Verona, Verona, Italia

    V. M. Andreoli

  2. Clinica Malattie Nervose, Mentali dell’Università di L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italia

    A. Agnoli

  3. 1a Clinica Malattie Nervose, Mentali dell’Università di Roma, Roma, Italia

    C. Fazio

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Baldessarini, R.J. (1978). On the Development and Utilization of Assays for Biological Transmethylation Involving S-Adenosylmethionine. In: Andreoli, V.M., Agnoli, A., Fazio, C. (eds) Transmethylations and the Central Nervous System. Monographien aus dem Gesamtgebiete der Psychiatrie, vol 18. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-88516-7_4

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