Office of Technology Management
Use of Harmaline
in a Blood Test for Serotonin System Activity
Summary:
This
invention teaches a method for fluorescently staining intracellular reservoirs
of neurotransmitters in mammalian tissue with harmiline, a naturally occurring
analogue of serotonin. Harmaline probes act as non-toxic vital stains
or markers for intracellular pools of serotonin, and enable direct visualization
of the cellular interactions through fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry.
The method would be useful for:
•
Quantitating the activity of neurotransmitter re-uptake as well as binding.
•
Diagnosis and monitoring of various clinical disease states such as depression.
•
Assessing the dosage and the actual efficacy of currently used psychoactive
drugs that interact with the serotonin system or block re-uptake.
•
In a novel blood test providing an assessment of CNS neurotransmitter system
status. [Activity of neurotransmitter systems on peripheral blood cells
has been demonstrated to reflect that of the central nervous system].
Since
tricyclic antidepressants and other classes of psychoactive drugs function
through affecting serotonin neurotransmitter systems interactions, the
harmaline probe would be a highly valuable tool in developing and assessing
the effectiveness of novel drugs. Furthermore, since many disease
states involve the serotonin system, the harmaline probe would also be
useful in the research on the neuro-pharmacology of disease.
Technology Status:This
patent is available for licensing from UT-Houston Health Science Center.
Patent
No. 5,256,533
Dianna
Redburn, Ph.D.