Selegiline (SG)

Selegiline is a drug used for the treatment of early-stage Parkinson's disease, depression and dementia. In normal clinical doses it is a selective irreversible MAO-B inhibitor. However, in larger doses it loses its specificity and also inhibits MAO-A. Dietary restrictions are common for MAOI treatments, but special dietary restrictions for lower doses have been found to be unnecessary, and dietary restrictions appear to be unnecessary at standard doses when selegiline is taken as Emsam, the transdermal patch form, as no adverse events due to diet have ever been reported with Emsam.Selegiline belongs to a class of drugs called phenethylamines. Selegiline is a levomethamphetamine derivative with a propargyl group attached to the nitrogen atom. Selegiline is a selective inhibitor of MAO-B; MAO-B metabolizes dopamine and phenylethylamine.