Abstract
Summary
As anticipated, the metabolism of 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan infused in humans was found to result in excretion in the urine of approximately 20% of the infused dose as serotonin and 40% as 5-hydroxyin-doleacetic acid. It was quite unexpected, however, to find that conversion to serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid also represents a definite though small (8%) pathway for metabolism of 5-hydroxy-D-tryptophan. The significance of the latter observation is discussed and the suggestion made that serotonin synthesis from the D-amino acid probably occurs via formation of its antipode through the action of D-amino acid oxidase and transamination.
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