[State of serotonin--monoamine oxidase and histamine--diamine oxidase systems in circulating blood in ischemic strokes].

The serotonin-monoamine oxidase and histamine-diamine oxidase systems in the arteria and venous blood of the brain were examined in 65 patients with ischemic cerebral stroke. The examinations have shown that in the acute period of the disease the metabolism of serotonin and histamine is disturbed, the degree and the character of these disturbances depending substantially on the stroke clinical manifestations, process localization and the disease outcome. In infarctions in the large hemispheres without the secondary stem syndrome, the changes of the amine metabolism are determined by the state of the enzymes inactivating them. In patients with the secondary stem syndrome, the monoamine oxidase content in the blood leaving the brain is lowered, the methylation processes are activated, and the histamine level decreased, while the serotonin level is high. In cases of primary affection of the brain stem and the lethal outcome of the disease the blood levels of serotonin and histamine are high. Use of serotonin antagonists in ischemic stroke and antihistaminic drugs in primary affection of the brain stem is substantiated.