Hemodynamic studies of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, DL-serine-N2-isopropylhydrazide (RO 4-1038). Mechanism of hypotensive action.

IT HAS previously been demonstrated that the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, RO 41038 (DL-serine-N2-isopropylhydrazide) is a clinically useful drug in the treatment of arterial hypertension." 2 Furthermore, all the compounds that inhibit monoamine oxidase in vivo are hypotensive in man to a greater or lesser degree.3 Although the precise manner in which the disturbances of catecholamine metabolism produced by these agents result in hypotension is speculative,4 present methodology is adequate to determine their major hemodynamic effects. RO 4-1038 would appear to be an appropriate drug to study for this purpose, since it results in a greater hypotensive response than most of the other monoamine oxidase inhibitors ,' 2 and it is an analogue of iproniazid (fig. 1) and thus has the typical configuration of most of the monoamine oxidase inhibitors.