Impaired mutagenic activities of MPDP+ (1-methyl-4-phenyl-2,3-dihydropyridinium) and MPP+ (1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium) due to their interactions with methylxanthines Original Research Article

MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine) is a neurotoxin causing symptoms that resemble those observed in patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease. However, in animal or human organisms, MPTP is converted to MPDP+ (1-methyl-4-phenyl-2,3-dihydropyridinium) and further to MPP+ (1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium); the latter compound is the actual neurotoxin. In this report, we demonstrate that MPDP+ and MPP+ can form stacking complexes with methylxanthines (caffeine and penthoxifylline), which leads to significant impairment of the biological activity of these toxins (as measured by their mutagenicity).