Posted by psychobot5000 on January 10, 2007, at 15:24:56
In reply to entacapone (Comtan) » ed_uk, posted by river1924 on January 8, 2007, at 0:30:39
> I don't really understand what COMT (catchol-O-methyltransferase) inhibitors really do. For Parkinson's, the drug works in nerves outside the brain barrier. It prevents the body from breaking down dopamine. But it seems more complex than that and I don't get it.
>
I don't really get them either, but my impression is that COMT is a molecule that floats around in extracellular areas, and metabolises certain excess-chemicals, notably dopamine AND noradrenaline. Not as important for their metabolism as MAO (which is intracellular), but still significant, apparently. So when you inhibit COMT, the levels of those two chemicals should increase somewhat, at least in some areas. Which would make it an augmentor to L-dopa, which is also aimed at increasing dopamine.Tea and certain other foods have COMT inhibitors in them, thought I don't know how powerful they are in comparison to pharmaceutical ones.
poster:psychobot5000
thread:719489
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070107/msgs/721117.html