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Effects of L-Tryptophan on Indoleamines and Catecholamines in Discrete Brain Regions of Wild Type and Lurcher Mutant Mice

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Abstract

The biochemical parameters of the serotoninergic system were examined in wild type mice and Lurcher mutants after chronic treatment (40 days) with the serotonin (5-HT) precursor L-tryptophan (50 mg/kg; i.p.). Tissue contents in 5-HT, dopamine and noradrenaline, as well as some of their metabolites, were measured in frontal cortex, neostriatum, thalamus, brainstem, cerebellum and spinal cord by high-performance liquid chromatography. The tissue levels were used as a biochemical index of the function of the monoamine innervations in this animal model of cerebellar ataxia. The results show that Lurcher mutants retain higher concentrations of L-tryptophan and total indoleamines, but that 5-HT is probably stored in a non-releasable compartment. In the particular case of the hypoplastic cerebellum, the reorganization of 5-HT nerve terminals leads to an accrued indoleamine synthesis, indicating that the Lurcher mutants can accumulate 5-HT, but do not utilize it efficiently in synaptic transmission.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de Recherche en Sciences Neurologiques, Département de physiologie, Faculté de médecine, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Tomás A. Reader, Nathalie Le Marec & Ariel R. Ase

  2. Unité de Neurologie du Comportement, Neurobiologie et Neuropsychologie, CHUM/Campus Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada

    Tomás A. Reader, Nathalie Le Marec & Robert Lalonde

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  1. Tomás A. Reader
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  2. Nathalie Le Marec
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  3. Ariel R. Ase
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  4. Robert Lalonde
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Correspondence to Tomás A. Reader.

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Reader, T.A., Le Marec, N., Ase, A.R. et al. Effects of L-Tryptophan on Indoleamines and Catecholamines in Discrete Brain Regions of Wild Type and Lurcher Mutant Mice. Neurochem Res 24, 1125–1134 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020708319483

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