Potentiation of the cerebrovascular response to intra-arterial 5-hydroxytryptamine.

Infusion of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5HT) into the internal carotid artery of normal baboons was not accompanied by alteration of gray matter cerebral blood flow. In animals pretreated with depot estrogen and progesterone (dosage equivalent to oral contraceptive preparations), infusion of 5HT produced a marked decrease in gray matter blood flow. A similar decrease in flow was obtained when the 5HT was infused with a concentrate of beta-lipoprotein. Steroid substances appear to enhance the cerebrovascular constrictor responses to 5HT. A further series of six experiments has shown that the monoamine oxidase inhibitor tranylcypromine similarly produced constrictor responses to 5HT. It is possible that the steroids, the beta-lipoprotein, and the tranylcypromine produced constrictor responses to 5HT by the same mechanism (inhibition of cerebrovascular monoamine oxidase).