Marine natural products with monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitory activity

Abstract

Context Research interest in monoamine oxidase (MAO) as a promising drug target for neurodegenerative diseases has a long history. However, efforts to develop MAO inhibitors (MAOIs) from marine sources have been limited, despite the increasing number of interesting marine natural products. Objective To review the potential of marine natural products as MAOIs source, including their activities and selectivity on MAO. Methods Public databases such as SciFinder, MarinLit and PubMed were systematically searched from 1991 until Dec 2019. MAO and MAOI were the key terms searched combined with marine natural products and marine. Results Six classes of marine natural products with good selectivity between the two MAO subtypes were organized with their selectivity and sources. Conclusions This is the first review to investigate the potential of marine natural products as MAOIs source. Despite the small number of known MAOIs from marine sources, marine natural products are potential leads for the further development of MAOI drugs with novel chemical frames and good selectivity.