Blood Amines

Abstract

In the normal individual toxic amines produced by bacterial action in the gut or elsewhere are readily destroyed by the amine oxidase, an enzyme which is present in the liver, intestine and other organs (Richter, 1938; Blaschko, Richter and Schlossmann, 1937). This process of detoxication is normally very rapid and efficient, but it has been suggested that in certain pathological conditions the detoxicating system may be defective, giving rise to an abnormally high level of toxic amines in the blood (Quastel, 1937).