[The level of catecholamines and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the brain of rats with a hereditary predisposition to catalepsy].

Rats bred from Wistar stock for predisposition to catalepsy differed from nonselected animals in the level of brain catecholamines. Most of the brain structures of cataleptic rats (frontal cortex, caudate nucleus, amygdala, n. accumbens, hippocampus, diencephalon and midbrain) had a lower content of norepinephrine, dopamine and DOPAC than the control Wistar groups. The deficit of catecholamine neurotransmitters is supposed to be a possible cause of abnormal cataleptic reactions in selected rats.