The Effect of Some Organic Compounds on Monoamino oxidase Activity

AbstractDifferent current ideas on the origin of life are critically examined. Comparison of the now fashionable FeS/H2S pyrite-based autotrophic theory of the origin of life with the heterotrophic viewpoint suggest that the later is still the most fertile explanation for the emergence of life. However, the theory of chemical evolution and heterotrophic origins of life requires major updating, which should include the abandonment of the idea that the appearance of life was a slow process involving billions of years. Stability of organic compounds and the genetics of bacteria suggest that the origin and early diversification of life took place in a time period of the order of 10 million years. Current evidence suggest that the abiotic synthesis of organic compounds may be a widespread phenomenon in the Galaxy and may have a deterministic nature. However, the history of the biosphere does not exhibits any obvious trend towards greater complexity or «higher» forms of life. Therefore, the role of contingency in biological evolution should not be understimated in the discussions of the possibilities of life in the Universe.

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Mitochondrial Oxidation of p-N, N-Dimethylamino-β-Phenethylamine (DAPA)

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100115912 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 33 ◽

pp. 458-459

Author(s):

W. Allen Shannon ◽

Hannah L. Wasserkrug ◽

andArnold M. Seligman

Keyword(s):

Guinea Pig ◽

Oxidase Activity ◽

Amine Oxidase ◽

Histochemical Demonstration ◽

Guinea Pig Heart ◽

Pig Kidney ◽

Cytoplasmic Vacuoles ◽

Liver And Kidney ◽

Mitochondrial Oxidation ◽

Amine Oxidase Activity

The synthesis of a new substrate, p-N,N-dimethylamino-β-phenethylamine (DAPA)3 (Fig. 1) (1,2), and the testing of it as a possible substrate for tissue amine oxidase activity have resulted in the ultracytochemical localization of enzyme oxidase activity referred to as DAPA oxidase (DAPAO). DAPA was designed with the goal of providing an amine that would yield on oxidation a stronger reducing aldehyde than does tryptamine in the histochemical demonstration of monoamine oxidase (MAO) with tetrazolium salts.Ultracytochemical preparations of guinea pig heart, liver and kidney and rat heart and liver were studied. Guinea pig kidney, known to exhibit high levels of MAO, appeared the most reactive of the tissues studied. DAPAO reaction product appears primarily in mitochondrial outer compartments and cristae (Figs. 2-4). Reaction product is also localized in endoplasmic reticulum, cytoplasmic vacuoles and nuclear envelopes (Figs. 2 and 3) and in the sarcoplasmic reticulum of heart.

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