Abstract
Summary
Groups of rats were fed tryptophan-deficient diets and niacin-tryptophan deficient pellagragenic diets. The former group showed significantly decreased concentrations of serotonin in the small intestine, brain, and colon, while pellagrous rats showed a significant increase in the small intestinal serotonin levels and no decrease in the brain or colonic concentration was observed. The elevated small intestinal concentration of serotonin in the N-T deficient rat is considered to be compatible with a diarrhea based on increased intestinal motility.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.