Reuptake of biogenic amines by brain slices: effect of hydrocortisone.

Biogenic amines and steroid hormones are postulated to play an important role in human and animal behavior. Steroids may exert some control over amine activity by influencing one or more aspects of amine metabolism. The brain slice technique offers a useful in vitro system for determining biogenic amine reuptake, a major control mechanism for regulating the amount of physiologically available amine. Using this technique the effect of hydrocortisone (HC) upon the reuptake of norepinephrine (NE), serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) was studied. HC had no detectable effect upon the reuptake of NE, 5-HT, or DA by hypothalamic tissue slices.