Open AccessMaize Based Diets and Mouse-Killing Behavior in Rats
Author(s) -
M. Ernandes,
M. La Guardia,
M. Giammanco
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of biological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.218
H-Index - 6
eISSN - 2284-0230
pISSN - 1826-8838
DOI - 10.4081/jbr.2003.10555
Subject(s) - tryptophan , serotonergic , serotonin , endogeny , biology , amino acid , medicine , endocrinology , chemistry , biochemistry , receptor
Mouse-killing behavior is correlated with decrease in brain serotonergic tone, caused by injection of p- chlorophenylalanine (which blocks serotonin synthesis), or by tryptophan free diets,which slow down serotonin production because source of tryptophan is done only by endogenous proteins.Another experimental method is maize exclusive diet:maize is, among cereals, that one which has the lowest tryptophan content, and the lowest value of the ratio between tryptophan and its concurrent amino acids for neuron access. In a lot of experiments, maize based diets gave rise to brain serotonin deficiency and to mouse-killing behavior in previous non killer rats.