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Reserpine and the Levels of Serotonin and Norepinephrine in the Brain

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Abstract

As an outgrowth of the results obtained in a number of laboratories, there appeared an explanation for the effect of reserpine which was based on the existence of reduced levels of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain at a time when no reserpine was detectable1. Most of these methods suffered from the experimental use of massive doses of reserpine, which rendered the animal quite immobile. Subsequent work, using much lower doses of reserpine labelled with tritium and carbon-14, demonstrated that reserpine was present in the brains of guinea pigs at an unchanging concentration over the entire period of observable pharmacological effects2. From these investigations it was not possible to demonstrate any correlation between the intensity of effect of the drug and its concentration in the brain. With these facts in mind it was decided to determine if the changes in the levels of brain serotonin and/or norepinephrine could be correlated with the observable pharmacological effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Department, Division of Macrobiology, CIBA Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Summit, New Jersey

    H. SHEPPARD & J. H. ZIMMERMAN

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  1. H. SHEPPARD
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  2. J. H. ZIMMERMAN
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SHEPPARD, H., ZIMMERMAN, J. Reserpine and the Levels of Serotonin and Norepinephrine in the Brain. Nature 185, 40–41 (1960). https://doi.org/10.1038/185040b0

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