Different mechanisms may mediate anaesthesia and analgesia

Inhibition of monoamine oxidase by indole and benzofuran derivatives

“…Interestingly, 6h was found to inhibit MAO-A selectively (7 fold). This is in agreement with literature reports that positively charged structures, such as methylene blue, display affinity for the MAO-A active site [31,32]. The observation that 6e is a relatively weaker MAO-B inhibitor than 6a indicates that phenyl substitution is more favourable for MAO-B inhibition than cyclohexyl substitution.…”