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Bromocriptine was used as a treatment for Parkinson's disease in 15 patients for 20 weeks. Immunoreactive plasma lutrophin (LH), follitrophin (FSH), prolactin, and somatotrophin (GH, growth hormone) concentrations were analysed before and during the treatment. Plasma prolactin levels were very markedly reduced during treatment. Plasma lutrophin levels were increased statistically significantly in female patients, but not in male patients. No changes were noticed in follitrophin levels, but plasma somatotrophin levels were reduced during treatment. No correlations were found between the degree of clinical response and changes in plasma gonadotrophin and somatotrophin. This suggests that the effects of bromocriptine on extrapyramidal and neuroendocrine dopaminergic neurons are unrelated. We suggest careful and frequent controls of neuroendocrine secretion patterns in patients with Parkinson's disease who are treated with high doses of dopamine receptor stimulators, since the responses of some pituitary hormones to bromocriptine are very marked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twelve MS patients were treated with L-tryptophan with or without decarboxylase inhibitor for 30 days, and the daily dose was either 1.5 g or 8 g. Tryptophan, 5-HIAA and HVA were analysed from lumbar punctures before and during tryptophan treatment. Clinical evaluation of MS symptoms was performed before, during and at the end of the tryptophan treatment period as well as after a 30-day placebo period. Tryptophan and 5-HIAA levels were found to be elevated 10 hours after the last dose of L-tryptophan. HVA concentrations remained approximately constant. A slight alleviation of changeable MS symptoms was noticed during the first month. The best response was found in symptoms like motility and bladder disturbances as well as in the mood of patients. These findings are indicative of the neural transmission changes during the rapid functional disturbances in MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Neurology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The specific activities of brain and plasma H-tryptophan and brain H-serotonin increased approximately linearly for only 6 min after animals received intraperitoneal tracer doses of H-tryptophan. The maximum rate of brain serotonin synthesis could thus be estimated from data collected during this interval, but not thereafter. Pretreatment of rats with intraventricular 5, 6-dihydroxytryptamine, a compound that damages serotoninergic neurons, decreases brain tryptophan and serotonin concentrations, accelerates the labelling of brain tryptophan by injected H-tryptophan, and markedly decreases the rate at which H-tryptophan accumulates as brain H-serotonin. The treatment of oophorectomized rats with estradiol and progesterone does not appear to modify brain serotonin synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

p-Chlorophenylalanine (pCPA) was administered to male and female rats on the 2nd and 3rd (20 mg/kg) and on the 5th and 6th (100 mg/kg) postnatal day. The display of spontaneous and hormone induced adult sexual behaviour, the onset of puberty in the females, and the effect of the neonatal drug injections on serotonin and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid levels in the brains of 15-day-old rats were examined. In the females, the time of vaginal opening was delayed even though the vaginal cytological cycles appeared to be normal. In addition, these females showed less ear wiggling activity during both spontaneous and hormone induced copulatory behaviour and a tendency to shortening of mount latencies during hormone induced masculine sexual behaviour. The drug treated males were, as adults, generally more sexually facile than were the vehicle treated controls: they required fewer mounts and intromissions prior to ejaculation, and displayed shorter intromission and ejaculation latencies as well as shorter refractory periods and intervals between successive intromissions. The hormone induced female sexual behaviour in the drug treated males appeared, however, to be unaltered. Finally, although many differences in adult sexual behaviour were observed in the animals treated with pCPA shortly after birth, no changes or sex differences in hypothalamic or forebrain concentrations of serotonin or 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid were found in animals treated similarly in infancy but killed at the age of 15 days. The relevance of these findings is discussed in the light of the possible significance of brain indole amines during the sexual development and differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate whether reserpine given in the critical period of sexual differentiation of the rat brain affects adult sexual behaviour, female and male rats were given a single injection of reserpine on the fourth day after birth, and their sexual behaviour was tested at maturity. In the 11 consecutive daily tests for spontaneous sexual behaviour the reserpine treated female animals showed fewer regular behavioural and vaginal oestrous cycles than the control animals. 19 % of the reserpinized and none of the control animals had prolonged oestrous behaviour without a coincident prolonged vaginal cycle. The reseptivity quotients of the reserpine treated animals were reduced. In the tests for hormone induced sexual behaviour after ovariectomy no statistically significant differences between the number of animals responding or between the receptivity quotients occurred. The tests for spontaneous sexual behaviour in males showed that the reserpinized animals needed fewer intromissions to ejaculate than the controls. The significance of these findings is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Experientia is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Experientia is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Experientia is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective To examine how different dimensions of social capital and health behaviour are associated. Design Cross-sectional data of the Health 2000 Health Examination Survey including a personal interview and self-administered questionnaires. Setting Representative sample (N=8028) of the Finnish adult population. Participants 6986 (87%) adults aged 30 years or over. Main Outcome Measures Non-smoking, non-excessive drinking, leisure-time physical activity, daily use of vegetables, adequate duration of sleep. Results Social capital was found to be associated with health behaviour. The dimension of social participation and networks was positively associated with every type of health behaviour. High levels of trust and reciprocity were related to non-smoking and adequate duration of sleep, and high levels of social support to adequate duration of sleep and daily use of vegetables. These associations persisted after controlling for age, gender, education and living arrangements. According to our findings, structural social capital seems to be associated with health behaviour more strongly than cognitive social capital. Conclusion Irrespective of their social status, people with higher levels of social capital—especially in social participation and networks—engage in healthier behaviour. When trying to reduce health inequalities, one strategy could be to promote social participation especially among people in danger of social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To examine how different dimensions of social capital and health behaviour are associated. Design Cross-sectional data of the Health 2000 Health Examination Survey including a personal interview and self-administered questionnaires. Setting Representative sample (N=8028) of the Finnish adult population. Participants 6986 (87%) adults aged 30 years or over. Main Outcome Measures Non-smoking, non-excessive drinking, leisure-time physical activity, daily use of vegetables, adequate duration of sleep. Results Social capital was found to be associated with health behaviour. The dimension of social participation and networks was positively associated with every type of health behaviour. High levels of trust and reciprocity were related to non-smoking and adequate duration of sleep, and high levels of social support to adequate duration of sleep and daily use of vegetables. These associations persisted after controlling for age, gender, education and living arrangements. According to our findings, structural social capital seems to be associated with health behaviour more strongly than cognitive social capital. Conclusion Irrespective of their social status, people with higher levels of social capital—especially in social participation and networks—engage in healthier behaviour. When trying to reduce health inequalities, one strategy could be to promote social participation especially among people in danger of social exclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]