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Depression of nocturnal pineal serotonin N-acetyltransferase activity in castrate male rats

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Summary

Pineal serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity was examined in intact rats, castrated rats, and in rats that had been castrated and had received testosterone proprionate. Castration resulted in significantly depressing nocturnal levels of pineal NAT (p<0.05) when compared to enzyme activity in intact rats. Testosterone proprionate administration restored plasma LH levels to normal values in castrate rats but did not induce nocturnal pineal enzyme activity to levels seen in the pineal glands of intact rats. The data substantiate the existence of a feedback control of pineal biosynthetic activity by the hypophyseal-gonadal system, but the identity of the hormone(s) responsible for regulation of pineal NAT activity is not known.

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  1. P. K. Rudeen

    Present address: Department of Anatomy, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

    R. J. Reiter

  2. Department of Anatomy, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA

    P. K. Rudeen & R. J. Reiter

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  1. P. K. Rudeen
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Rudeen, P.K., Reiter, R.J. Depression of nocturnal pineal serotonin N-acetyltransferase activity in castrate male rats. J. Neural Transmission 48, 1–8 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01670029

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01670029

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