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Sub-cellular Distribution of Serotonin in the Developing Rat Brain

Abstract

IT is well known that the neonatal rat brain contains relatively little serotonin1,2 and that the level of this amine increases slowly with age. Karki et al.3 have shown that the enzymes mediating the synthesis and oxidation of serotonin are also low in the immature rat brain, and increase thereafter with growth of the animal. The aforementioned authors suggest that the low levels of indolamines in the rat brain at birth can be attributed to a deficiency of the binding or storage system, and are not a reflexion of the insufficiency of the enzyme systems. Schanberg and Giarman4,5 have shown that endogenous brain serotonin distributes itself between the particulate matter of brain homogenates and the supernatants, and that this relationship is susceptible to alteration by drugs. It was, therefore, of interest to investigate the sub-cellular distribution of serotonin in the developing rat brain and to determine whether it will parallel other maturational changes.

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HABER, B., KAMANO, A. Sub-cellular Distribution of Serotonin in the Developing Rat Brain. Nature 209, 404 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/209404a0

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