Tyramine Biogenic amines

Lactose intolerance is secondarily manifested in individuals using antidepressant drugs by digestive problems caused by biogenic amine tyramine. 

Histidine, an amino acid in wine, is decarboxylated into histamine, whose toxicity, allhough low, is additive to the toxicity of other biogenic amines (tyramine, phenyl ethylamine, putrescine and cada-verine) (Figure 5.9). Tyrosine is decarboxylated to form tyramine by a similar reaction. 

Ladero, V., Fernandez, M., Calles-Enrfquez, M., et al. (2012) Is the production of the biogenic amines tyramine and putrescine a species-level trait in enterococci Food Microbiol 30, 132-138. 

Fig. 1 Fluorescence scan of a chromatogram track with a mixture of biogenic amines with 1 ng substance per chromatogram zone 1 = histamine, 2 = serotonin, 3 = tyramine, 4 = phenylethylamine.

Interlaboratory studies were carried out on the precision characteristics of the analytical methods used for determination of certain biogenic amines in fish and fish products, as required by German law. These included putrescine (4a), cadaverine (4b), tyramine (5) and histamine (6)78. 

Biogenic amines are of great interest to researchers because of their potential roles in several psychiatric and neurological disorders. They include dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, serotonin), histamine, and trace amines such as 2-phenylethylamine (PEA), tyramine, octopamine, phenylethanolamine, and tryptamine (Coutts and Baker, 1982). Although GC assays for DA, NA, and 5-HT are available, HPLC analysis with electrochemical detection has for many years now been the method of choice for analysis of these neurotransmitter amines. 

The predominant amines found in cheese are tyramine, cadaverine, putrescine and histamine (Table 6.6) (Stratton et ah, 1991 Silla Santos, 1996 Novella-Rodriguez et ah, 2002 Novella-Rodriguez et al., 2003). Biogenic amine levels may vary between types of cheese as well as within the varieties themselves. The differences within a variety of cheese may be due to a number of factors, including manufacturing processes, bacterial counts in the milk, heat treatments used, use of starter cultures, and the duration and conditions of the ripening process (Stratton et al., 1991 Pinho et al., 2001 Novella-Rodriguez et al., 2003). 

Biogenic amines are commonly found in fermented meats. Histamine poisoning has not been associated with this type of product, however histamine has been found at low levels in some fermented meats (Dierick et al., 1974 Taylor et al., 1978 Vidal et al., 1990 Shalaby, 1993 Maijala et al., 1993). The most common amine found in fermented meats is tyramine (Trevino et al., 1997 Eerola et al., 1998), which is found at higher concentrations than other amines. The toxic level of biogenic amines is 100 mg per 100 g of product (Arnold et al., 1978). Taylor et al. (1978) and Vandekerckhove (1977) found amounts of histamine up to 55 mg per 100 g, putrescine up to 40 mg per 100 g, cadaverine up to 5.6 mg per 100 g, tyramine up to 151 mg per 100 g, and p-phenylethylamine up to 6.1 mg per 100 g in dry sausage. Table 6.9 lists the... 

Another strategy of some interest is to deplete biogenic amines such as OA by inhibiting their biosynthesis. Inhibitors of such enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway as aromatic amino acid decarboxylase which converts tyrosine to tyramine, or dopamine 3 -hydroxylase which converts tyramine to OA are known and have interesting effects in insects (e.g. see 52,53)t but a discussion of this area lies outside the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, it is a particularly interesting one since these or related enzymes are also needed to produce catecholamines for cuticular sclerotiza-tion, thus offering dual routes to the discovery of compounds with selectively deleterious actions on insects. 

Draisci et al. [7] Biogenic amines putrescine, cadaverine, histamine, tyramine, spermidine, spermine, tryptamine Anchovies Diamine oxidase (DAO)/on a nylon-net membrane, using glutaraldehyde Platinum electrode/ +0.650V vs. Ag/AgCl ... 

The zig-zag mixer was then used as a pre-column reactor to derivatize biogenic amines such as histamine and tyramine with o-phthaldialdehyde and to detect the corresponding products with micellar electro kinetic chromatography [150]. A separation of four amines, histamine, tyramine, putrescine and tryptamine, was demonstrated in that way. 

Biogenic amines in wine and fermented foods are formed primarily via the microbial decarboxylation of amino acids. Examples, such as histamine, tyramine, and phenylethylamine are toxic, especially in alcoholic beverages. Ethanol can inhibit the monoamino oxidase responsible for amine detoxification (Maynard and Schenker, 1996). Histamine can induce allergenic reactions in humans, such as rashes, edema, headaches, hypotension. Tyramine and phenylethylamine can cause hypertension and other symptoms related to the release of noradrenaline. 

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