COMT inhibitors

COMT inhibitors or COMT inhibitors ( catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors ) are used in the therapy of Parkinson's disease together with levodopa and a DOPA decarboxylase inhibitor .

Mode of action

COMT inhibitors block one of two ways that levodopa can be inactivated before it reaches the central nervous system. The second way, the breakdown by AADC , is blocked by decarboxylase inhibitors .

COMT inhibitors are inhibitors of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), an enzyme that, together with monoamine oxidase (MAO), is responsible for the metabolism of catecholamines . They mainly have a peripheral effect and little or no effect in the central nervous system. The COMT blockade prevents the methylation of levodopa and thus delays its breakdown, so that ultimately a larger proportion can reach the CNS. When used alone, the COMT inhibitors have no therapeutic effect.

Active ingredients

• Entacapone
• Tolcapone
• Opicapon

literature

• Ernst Mutschler: drug effects. Textbook of pharmacology and toxicology. Wissenschaftliche Verlagsges., ISBN 978-3804717633

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lüllmann et al .: Pharmacology and Toxicology . 17th edition. Thieme, p. 368

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