Abstract
l-Tryptophan was administered to rats pretreated with selective inhibitors of the A and B forms of MAO. deprenyl, a selective inhibitor of MAO-B, produced only minor changes in behaviour and in the concentrations of apparent 5-HT and 5-HIAA in brain. High doses of clorgyline, a selective inhibitor of MAO-A, produced a characteristic stereotyped syndrome of hypermotility and tremor as well as an increase in apparent 5-HT and a decrease in apparent 5-HIAA in brain. Small doses of deprenyl and clorgyline in combination, but not singly, produced maximal effects on behaviour as well as on the concentrations of apparent 5-HT and 5-HIAA in brain. Maximum behavioural and biochemical effects were also produced when either deprenyl or clorgyline was administered 18 hrs before the other.
It is concluded that the syndrome may be dependent on the formation of an N-substituted derivative of 5-HT which is at least partly deaminated by MAO-B. Alternatively, the syndrome may be dependent on a sufficiently high concentration of 5-HT in a special compartment where it is partly deaminated by MAO-B.
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Squires, R.F., Buus Lassen, J. The inhibition of A and B forms of MAO in the production of a characteristic behavioural syndrome in rats after l-tryptophan loading. Psychopharmacologia 41, 145–151 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421072
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421072