High Serum Tryptophan Associated with Evidence for Diminished Central Serotonin Function in Abstinent Alcoholics
✍ Scribed by CONOR K. FARREN; TIMOTHY G. DINAN
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1996
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 490 KB
- Volume
- 11
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6222
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
We measured the serum tryptophan in a group of abstinent alcoholics and healthy controls and compared the findings with the results of a d-fenfluramine prolactin challenge in the same group of alcoholics and matched controls. The prolactin response to d-fenfluramine was diminished in the alcoholics, while the serum tryptophan was elevated. When the alcoholics were divided into high tryptophan and low tryptophan groups by the mean alcoholic tryptophan, the high tryptophan alcoholics had a diminished prolactin response to d-fenfluramine while the low tryptophan alcoholics did not. These findings suggest the possibility of one or more serotonergic abnormalities in abstinent alcoholics.