Acceptance into clinical practice of monoamine oxidase (MAO) antidepressants requires unequivocal evidence that novel, non-hepatotoxic and reversible MAO-A inhibitors carry little or no risk of inducing severe hypertensive crises (cheese effect). This study summarizes the most relevant preclinical aspects which differentiate the novel reversible MAO-A inhibitors moclobemide and brofaromine, from previous irreversible MAO inhibitors of the old generation, particularly phenelzine and tranylcypromine. Moclobemide and brofaromine bear no chemical relation to irreversible inhibitors such as hydrazine derivatives (phenelzine) or aminocyclopropyl derivatives (tranylcypromine). Experiments in rats show that moclobemide and brofaromine increase the level of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) and decrease that of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid for only 16-24 hours. In vitro, moclobemide and brofaromine behave as mechanism-based, enzyme-activated inhibitors since their intrinsic inhibitory activity increases with the duration of their interaction with the enzyme in tissue homogenates. In contrast to irreversible monoamine oxidase inhibitors, which are much more potent in vitro than in vivo, moclobemide has the characteristic to be virtually equipotent in vitro and in vivo. MAO-A inhibition induced by moclobemide in the rat in vivo was rapidly reversed by simply incubating liver homogenates at 37 degrees C in the absence of the inhibitor, indicating a rapid metabolic inactivation of moclobemide in vitro. This reversibility is a distinctive feature of moclobemide, when compared with brofaromine or irreversible MAO inhibitors. Hepatotoxicity is not an inherent property of MAO inhibitors indeed, moclobemide or brofaromine, due to their chemical structures, cannot be converted into isopropyl hydrazine, the hepatotoxic metabolite of iproniazid suspected to induce liver necrosis. Results from preclinical and clinical investigations demonstrate that moclobemide and brofaromine, in contrast to tranylcypromine and phenelzine, very weakly potentiate the pressor effects of orally administered tyramine. In conclusion, the reversible MAO-A inhibitors moclobemide and brofaromine, due to their well-documented safety characteristics, to their lack of anticholinergic-effects and to their good tolerability, will provide innovative tools for clarifying the role of MAO-A inhibitors in the treatment of endogenous and atypical depressive states.