Abstract
The concentrations of noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin were measured in the brain of male albino mice and rats after intraperitoneal injections of muscimol, ibotenic acid or LSD. All three drugs induced a generalized increase of serotonin. When muscimol was administered to rats after pretreatment with p-chlorophenylalanine, a serotonin synthesis inhibitor, the serotonin concentration was still increased in midbrain and hypothalamus. Muscimol also caused a reduced accumulation of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in rats pretreated with probenecid. There were differences in the action of the three compounds on the catecholamine concentration. Muscimol and LSD caused a decrease of the catecholamines. Ibotenic acid increased the catecholamine concentration. Certain topographical differences were noted.
The increase in the serotonin concentration in the hypothalamus and midbrain after muscimol may be due to a reduced turnover of serotonin. An increase in serotonin concentration and a decrease of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid in the rat brain are effects observed also with other psychotomimetic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin.
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König-Bersin, P., Waser, P.G., Langemann, H. et al. Monoamines in the brain under the influence of muscimol and ibotenic acid, two psychoactive principles of amanita muscaria. Psychopharmacologia 18, 1–10 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402378
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00402378