Aron David Mosnaim is a neuroscientist, researcher, and academic. He is a professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and an adjunct professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. ^[1]

Mosnaim is most known for his research covering the areas of basic and clinical neuro- and immunopharmacology of biogenic amines and opioid peptides in neuropsychiatric conditions, including depression, headache pain, as well as movement and posttraumatic stress disorders.^{[ citation needed]} He has co-edited four scientific books on Noncatecholic Phenylethylamines (2 volumes), ^[2] Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, ^[3] and Tardive Dyskinesia. ^[4]

Mosnaim has served as a Consultant to the Pan American Health Organization (1982–1985), Member of the United States Pharmacopeia Convention (1990 and 1995), and Director of International Neuropsychiatry Consultants (1987–2020). Additionally, he is a Fellow of The Chemical Society (1977) and a Senior Fellow of the American Institute of Therapeutics (2019). ^[1]

Early life and education

Mosnaim earned a Doctor of Pharmaceutical Sciences degree from the University of Chile (1964) and joined the Faculty of the university's School of Medicine. He was awarded a PhD degree in Organic Chemistry from Glasgow’s Strathclyde University (1969). After a brief tenure at the University of Chicago, he received a postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University (1970).^{[ citation needed]}

Career

In 1971, Mosnaim joined the University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School as an assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacology. He was promoted to Associate Professor and Acting Chairman (1974), and to a Full Professorship in 1979. He has been serving as a professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology and adjunct professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The Chicago Medical School/Rosalind Franklin University. ^[1]

Mosnaim holds an Honorary Full Professorship at the University of Chile College of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Research

Mosnaim has published over 150 papers in peer-reviewed Journals, more than 20 invited reviews and book chapters, and presented research in more than 200 scientific meetings.^{[ citation needed]}

Early in his research career (1967), Mosnaim contributed to elucidate the metabolic pathway of the then widely used toxic insecticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), and in a series of publications (1969–1972) helped to understand the mechanism of halogenation by cupric salts of carcinogenic anthracene and pyrene compounds. ^[5] His laboratory demonstrated the presence of phenylethylamine, commonly viewed as the endogenous amphetamine, in mammalian tissues, and his work elucidated this amine’s in vivo and in vitro brain metabolic pathway. ^{[6] [7] [8]} His work, animal models, contributed to establish phenylethylamine brain levels as a biological marker for various neuropsychiatric disorders, and to evaluate its brain changes in response to different classes of psychotropic drugs. ^{[9] [10]} Further research identified some of the physiological functions, and described relevant behavior and toxicological effects of phenylethylamine and various structurally related trace amines. ^{[11] [12]}

Mosnaim reported plasma levels of the endogenous opioid pentapeptide methionine-enkephalin in various patient populations, and the effect of selected classes of drugs on its degradation kinetics, ^[13] suggesting that its significant increase in chronic cluster and migraine patients during an acute headache episode could serve as a biological marker for these illnesses. ^{[14] [15]} He also clarified reports of the activity of platelet monoamine oxidase and the role of dietary phenylethylamine and tyramine in the etiology of migraine headaches. ^[16]

Mosnaim contributed to document the association of tardive dyskinesia and drug-induced parkinsonism, and in identifying sub-types, cognitive deficits, and some of the risk factors associated with increased vulnerability to this condition. ^{[17] [18] [19] [20]} He participated in studies finding comorbidity of pain, dermatological and allergic conditions, as well as decreased natural killer cell activity, in posttraumatic stress disorder patients. ^[21] He reported the decrease of this immune function in septic shock and human immunodeficiency virus-1 positive individuals, as well as its significant increase by various substances with widely different chemical structures and biological activities, e.g., enkephalins, α- interferon, interleukin-2, taxol, and lipopolysaccharide. ^{[22] [23] [24]}

Bibliography

Selected edited books

• Noncatecholic phenylethylamines Part 1 (1978) ISBN 0-8247-6616-4
• Noncatecholic phenylethylamines Part 2 (1980) ISBN 0-8247-6721-7
• Tardive Dyskinesia: Biological Mechanisms & Clinical Aspects (1989) ISBN O-8804-8176-5
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Etiology, Phenomenology, and Treatment (1990) ISBN 0-8804-8299-0

Selected articles

• Inwang, E. E.; Mosnaim, A. D.; Sabelli, H. C. (May 1973). "Isolation and characterization of phenylethylamine and phenylethanolamine from human brain". Journal of Neurochemistry. 20 (5): 1469–1473. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1973.tb00259.x. PMID  4716838. S2CID  8349615.
• Sabelli, Hector C.; Mosnaim, A. David (June 1974). "Phenylethylamine Hypothesis of Affective Behavior". American Journal of Psychiatry. 131 (6): 695–699. doi: 10.1176/ajp.131.6.695. PMID  4827802.
• Wolf, Marion E; Alavi, Afshin; Mosnaim, Aron D (March 1988). "Posttraumatic stress disorder in vietnam veterans clinical and EEG findings; possible therapeutic effects of carbamazepine". Biological Psychiatry. 23 (6): 642–644. doi: 10.1016/0006-3223(88)90011-x. PMID  3355879. S2CID  40512787.
• Mosnaim, Aron D.; Ranade, Vasant V.; Wolf, Marion E.; Puente, Javier; Antonieta Valenzuela, M. (May 2006). "Phenothiazine Molecule Provides the Basic Chemical Structure for Various Classes of Pharmacotherapeutic Agents". American Journal of Therapeutics. 13 (3): 261–273. doi: 10.1097/01.mjt.0000212897.20458.63. PMID  16772768.

References