Topic: 5-HTP

Previous studies from our group showed that brain serotonin deficiency in rodents affects the early postnatal growth of the pups, triggering behavioral alterations and problems in social communication. We aim at understanding the causal link between low levels of brain serotonin and growth retardation and altered behavior in the early postnatal phase of development. To do this we are using a knockout rat model lacking TPH2, the main enzyme involved in the first step of serotonin synthesis in the brain.To tackle growth retardation, we monitored the pituitary activity of the pups at different ag