Behaviour of rats depleted of 5-hydroxytryptamine by feeding a diet free of tryptophan

✍ Scribed by D. J. Boullin

• Book ID: 104760169
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1963
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 604 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00405572

✦ Synopsis

The experiments described here were undertaken to obtain animals with severely depleted intestinal 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-tIT) levels in order to study the relationship of 5-HT to peristalsis (BovLH• 1962 a). During the course of this work behavioural changes were noted in the depleted animals, which were also found to possess very low brain 5-HT lcve~s. Therefore it was of interest to investigate the relationship of the behavioural changes to 5-HT, and also the effect of reserpine, in view of the possible relationship of the central effects of the alkaloid to "free" 5-tIT levels in the brain.

Methods

Forty seven male weanling Spraguc-Dawley rats were depleted of 5-HT by feeding a synthetic diet free of tryptophan based on that used by BovI~LI~ (1961) with the composition of amino-acids used by l~os~, O~ST~LING and WOMACK (1948, mixture XXIII), but modified by inclusion of the L-forms of serine, methionine, threonine and aspartic acid in place of the DL-forms. The composition of the diet was as follows: L