A probable neurobiological role for the trace amines began to emerge as
soon as techniques sufficiently sophisticated to detect them were
developed. Techniques for quantitative analyses included radioenzymatic
procedures and, more recently, HPlC-EC and auto- mated GC-MS. The
methods are applied after separation of the sub- stances to be analyzed
and after their purification by physicochemical procedures that are
becoming more and more efficient. The identification and quantitative
analysis of minute amounts of trace amines in biological fluids or
tissues is in itself a remarkable technological achievement. The
enormous task that several teams of research workers have set themselves
is to investigate the origin of the trace amines, to understand their
metabolism, and to discover whether or not they possess an important
biological role. The 2nd Trace Amines Symposium at Weitenburg Castle
near Tubingen from the 15th to the 19th May 1985 was held to gain a
somewhat clearer insight into the present state of knowledge. Since the
first meeting in 1983 our knowledge has increased and interest is
deepening. Hence the idea proposed at that first meeting, of organizing
similar gather- ings at regular intervals, has come to fruition. Covered
in the Neuropsychopharmacology section of this book are studiesof the
effects of certain trace amines on different forms of be- havior, on
neurotransmission mediated by . the classical neuro- transmitters, on
their biosynthesis or on catabolism, on their possible occurrence as a
result of alternative metabolic pathways for the amino acids, and in
some instances their neuroanatomical distributions.
