ABSTRACT
Amino acids are more or less direct precursors of the biogenic amines. Biogenic amines occur in food plants, animal tissues, and microorganisms as normal constituents, but most often only in relatively small amounts. Individual animals may also have different sensitivity to biogenic amines caused by differences and/or defects in their metabolism, catabolism or excretion of biogenic amines. The strongest support for the biogenic amines theory is the observation that inhibitors of monoamine oxidase have a powerful antidepressant effect. For some of the simple amines formed in decarboxylation reactions or transamination of aldehydes, further transformation into gamma-glutamyl derivatives occur. The relation between amino acids and biogenic amines has attracted much attention owing to the physiological effects many biogenic amines have on man and animals. The availability of the amino acid precursors as well as the enzymes required for the production of biogenic amines are important factors.
