Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) – Antidepressants (Nursing)

00:01 Hi, welcome to our video series on antidepressants.

00:04 In this one, we're gonna look at MAOI inhibitors, so you may see that abbreviate to MAOIs.

00:12 This is the medication that they're talking about, monoamine oxidase inhibitors.

00:18 Okay, well, we know A-S-E means breakdown, right? That's an enzyme.

00:24 We know that these are monoamine oxidase inhibitors so, this is gonna block the effect of that enzyme.

00:31 I've got some examples of the names here but there is a lot to talk about with this medication.

00:37 So, look at the names there, again on the psych meds, we included the trade names for you along with the generics but remember, you will see the generic names and not the trade names.

00:48 So, look at these four examples we have here.

00:51 Spend a bit of time with them, hang out, make sure you're familiar with these names.

00:55 These are four relatively common example of MAOIs.

01:05 Okay, now, MAOIs inhibit MAO-A in the nerve terminal so this increases the amount of norepinephrine and 5-HT that's available.

01:13 Yeah, does that sound like word salad to you right now? It's okay.

01:16 It's okay. We're gonna break it down a little bit more, but just know, that MAOIs inhibit this thing we're gonna call MAO-A.

01:26 It happens in the nerve terminals and we end up with extra norepinephrine, that's what NE is and 5-HT being available.

01:36 Okay, so, monoamine neurotransmitters like serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, their job is to relay signals between the nerve cells and regulate important functions throughout the body.

01:50 Okay, so that's what they do. So, we got this down.

01:54 Monoamine neurotransmitters, that's serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.

01:59 So, here's three examples of these monoamine neurotransmitters.

02:03 Now, you've heard this a lot when we're talking about treatment with depression.

02:07 So, keep that in mind, serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine, now their descriptor is for them to be monoamine neurotransmitters.

02:15 Their job relay signals between nerve cells, so that's what they do, and they help regulate really important functions throughout your body.

02:25 Okay, so we've got a graphic here for you that should help kind of make things a little clear.

02:29 Remember, a neurotransmitter's job is to send messages in the brain.

02:34 Now, we've talked about serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, those are three monoamine neurotransmitters. We got that. We know what those are.

02:43 And after these neurotransmitters have done their job, they send the message in the brain.

02:48 They're absorbed, now, absorbed by a protein called monoamine oxidase.

02:52 Oh, this is starting to sound familiar, right? Monoamine oxidase inhibitors, they're gonna stop this process.

03:00 So, because the problem being, if too many of the monoamines are absorbed, then they have this chemical imbalance that occurs in the brain.

03:09 So, too much of this serotonin, dopamine, et cetera.

03:13 These substances are absorbed then we have a chemical imbalance, not enough.

03:18 So, we found a drug that can stop that from happening, we can stop that imbalance; we can try to restore balance by we stopped these monoamine oxidases from absorbing these neurotransmitters.