Serotonin turnover in individual brain nuclei: evaluation of three methods using liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection.

Liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection and brain microdissection techniques were used to evaluate three methods of studying serotonin turnover in 10 individual brain nuclei. The increase in serotonin (5-HT) and decline in 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) after administration of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor, pargyline, as well as the accumulation of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) after the L-amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor, m-hydroxybenzylhydrazine, were measured. Serotonin accumulation and 5-HIAA decline could be detected in the n. caudatus, globus pallidus, cortical amygdala, n. interstitialis striae terminalis, n. preopticus medialis, and n. dorsomedialis. Only serotonin accumulation could be accurately assessed in the n. ventromedialis, n. arcuatus, and median eminence. The pattern of increase of serotonin after pargyline varied in different nuclei. There was a linear increase of serotonin over 90 minutes in the caudate, globus pallidus, and ventromedial nucleus and over 60 minutes in the n. preopticus medialis, and cortical amygdala. This contrasted with a maximal increase at 30 minutes in the other nuclei. However, 5-HIAA decline tended to be greatest after 30 minutes in most nuclei. Increases in 5-HTP concentrations after decarboxylase inhibition were not reliably detected in these areas. These results indicate that two nonsteady state methods may be used to evaluate changes in serotonin turnover in selected individual, nonpooled hypothalamic and forebrain nuclei.