Ethanol impairs tryptophan transport into the brain and depresses serotonin |
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Authors: | Laure Branchey Spencer Shaw Charles S. Lieber |
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Affiliation: | Alcohol Research and Treatment Center Bronx Veterans Administration Medical Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine (CUNY) New York, N.Y., USA |
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Abstract: | Alcoholics were found to have decreased plasma levels of tryptophan, the serotonin precursor, and a decreased ratio of tryptophan over amino acids competing for transport into the brain. Studies conducted in the plasma of rats and baboons with carefully controlled alcohol and dietary intake showed a decreased in the ratio of tryptophan over competing amino acids resulting mostly from increases in valine in the rat and in valine, leucine and isoleucine in the baboon. In the rat concomitant decreases in brain tryptophan and serotonin were noted. Central serotonin dificiency may contribute to the depressive states frequently seen in alcoholics. |
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