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Science 3 December 1971:
Vol. 174. no. 4013, pp. 1023 - 1025
DOI: 10.1126/science.174.4013.1023
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Articles

Brain Serotonin Content: Increase Following Ingestion of Carbohydrate Diet

John D. Fernstrom 1 and Richard J. Wurtman 1

1 Laboratory of Neuroendocrine Regulation, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139

In the rat, the injection of insulin or the consumption of carbohydrate causes sequential increases in the concentrations of tryptophan in the plasma and the brain and of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin-containing neurons may thus participate in systems whereby the rat brain integrates information about the metabolic state in its relation to control of homeostatis and behavior.


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