Mortality and ventilatory effects of central serotonin deficiency during postnatal development depend on age but not sex

Abstract

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Constitutive depletion of brain serotonin differentially affects rats’ social and cognitive abilities

“…Monoamine levels were controlled by HPLC: serotonin was undetectable in the brain of Tph2 −/− animals (data not shown), confirming previously published data. 54 , 56 Genotyping of animals was performed according to the previously published protocol. 74 …”

“…In our study we took advantage of the recently created rats with genetic deletion of tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2), 54 the rate-limiting enzyme for serotonin synthesis in the brain. 55 Constitutive lack of brain serotonin in these animals 54 , 56 results in delayed growth and impaired autonomic responses, which normalize at adult age. At the behavioral level, TPH2-deficient ( Tph2 −/− ) rats showed increased aggression in the resident intruder paradigm.…”