Serum serotonin levels of normal and autistic children

1. Serum serotonin (5HT) was determined in normal and autistic children by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ED), after serum deproteinization. 2. The sample deproteinization was carried out by the addition of 3.4 M HCLO4 to a small volume of the serum, followed by freezing, centrifugation, dilution and injection of sample into the HPLC. 3. Serum 5HT concentration was significantly increased in autistic children (303 +/- 92 ng/ml) (N = 19) when compared to that of normal children (215 +/- 67 ng/ml) (N = 46). The data of normal children analyzed by ANOVA for sex or age showed no difference. 4. The method employed in this study showed high resolution, good sensitivity and can be used for routine determination of serum 5HT in the clinical investigation of hyperserotonemia in autism

Some evidence that intrahippocampal grafting of noradrenergic neurons suppresses spontaneous seizures in epileptic rats

Pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus leads to widespread limbic forebrain damage in rats and provides a model for studying intractable epilepsy. Noradrenergic neurons in suspension, prepared from the locus coeruleus region of donors on the 13th or 14th gestational day, were microinjected bilaterally into the hippocampus (8 rats) and into the cerebellum (4 rats) or the olfactory bulb (4 rats) of epileptic rats. Three µ1 of suspension was deposited at the rat of 1 µl/min. Control animals were not submitted to surgery (4 rats). After six weels a marked reduction of suppression of spontaneous seizures was observed in intrahippocampally grafted rats. from these preliminary results we suggest that frafts can be used to suppress spontaneous recurrent epleptic seizures