Pharmacologic Substance
MAO inhibitor Audio
[ ... in-hih-bih-ter ]
Subclass of:
Enzyme Inhibitors
Definitions related to monoamine oxidase inhibitors:
  • (mao inhibitor) Chemically heterogeneous group of antidepressant drugs that have in common the ability to block oxidative deamination of naturally occurring monoamines.
    CRISP Thesaurus
    National Institutes of Health, 2006
  • A type of drug used to treat depression. It stops the breakdown of certain chemicals in the brain that help improve a person's mood. A monoamine oxidase inhibitor is a type of antidepressant.
    NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • Any substance that inhibits monoamine oxidase (MAO), an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative deamination of monoamines and plays a role in the inactivation of neurotransmitters.
    NCI
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • A chemically heterogeneous group of drugs that have in common the ability to block oxidative deamination of naturally occurring monoamines. (From Gilman, et al., Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 8th ed, p414)
    NLM Medical Subject Headings
    U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2025
  • Medications used to treat depression. They work by making the chemical messengers serotonin and norepinephrine more available.
    Harvard Dictionary of Health Terms
    Harvard Medical Publishing, 2011
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