Trace Amines

It's been a while since my last update it has been a busy time for me but now I'm back and hopefully updates every couple of days. The subject today is trace amines, what they are, how they work and what roll they play in our body.

Trace amines are a group of amines (found in the human body) structurally related to monoamine neurotransmitters such as we all know; dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. Compared to these monoamines, trace amines are present in trace concentrations. They are distributed throughout our brain and peripheral nervous tissues and break down faster than classical neurotransmitters. Trace amines may play  very significant roles in the coordination of monoamine-based synaptic physiology at high concentrations for example they have amphetamine-like effects on monoamine release, reuptake and biosynthesis of the classic neurotransmitters. At lower concentrations they possess postsynaptic effects that potentiate the effects of other neurotransmitters; particularly dopamine and serotonin.

A family of G protein couple receptors has been characterized to be responsive to trace amines. And structurally related to psychoactive drugs such as amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine, lysergic acid diethylamide and dimethyltryptamine. Like dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin the trace amines have been implicated in a variety of human disorders of affect and cognition such as depression and schizophrenia. How these endeogenic amines are related to psychoactive molecules found in nature is still a mystery scientists are trying to solve. Why do molecules in our brain found in trace amounts look so much alike structurally and chemically to psychoactive drugs found in nature?

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