Effects of natural ageing on plasma 5-HT turnover in humans

✍ Scribed by S. M. Dursun; R. P. Whitaker; H. Andrews; M. A. Reveley

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 85 KB
• Volume: 12
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1077(199707/08)12:4<365::aid-hup879>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

There is consistent preclinical evidence that brain 5-HT and 5-HIAA concentrations are abnormal during natural ageing (Kabuto et al., 1995). Furthermore, plasma/CSF 5-HT and 5-HIAA concentrations are reduced in both vascular and Alzheimer's type dementia, which may be due to abnormal progressive cell degeneration (Parnetti et al., 1994). However, eects of natural ageing on plasma 5-HT, 5-HIAA and 5-HT turnover remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between 5-HT turnover and age in 44 subjects (M X F 22 X 22; age range: 21±63 years). We determined plasma 5-HT and 5-HIAA, after an overnight fasting and blind to subject status, by an HPLC-¯uorescent detection method (Bearcroft et al., 1995), and 5-HT turnover was calculated as 5-HIAA Ä 5-HT. These results indicate that 5-HT turnover is positively correlated with natural ageing, suggesting that ageing may alter 5-HT system in humans. However, further large scale studies are required to con®rm these results and to investigate their signi®cance.