Classical MAOIs, including isocarboxazid, are used only very rarely in the present day due to prominent food and drug interactions and have been largely superseded by newer, safer, and more tolerable antidepressants such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The cause of the interactions is because MAOIs inhibit the metabolism of dietary amines (e.g., tyramine) and the monoamine neurotransmitters. In combination with other drugs that increase the levels of the monoamine neurotransmitters such as the SSRIs, or with certain foods high in dietary amines such as aged cheeses, MAOIs can produce dangerous elevations of monoamine neurotransmitters resulting in potentially life-threatening syndromes such as hypertensive crisis and serotonin syndrome.
^ abLawrence A. Labbate; Maurizio Fava; Jerrold F. Rosenbaum; George W. Arana (28 March 2012). Handbook of Psychiatric Drug Therapy. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-1-4511-5307-1.
^Volz, Hanz-Peter. (November 1998) “Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors A Perspective on Their Use in The Elderly” Biochemical pharmacology (5) 341-352.