Tryptophan-free diet: a new means for rapidly decreasing brain tryptophan content and serotonin synthesis

Changes in the synthesis rate of brain serotonin are positively correlated with changes in the concentration of brain tryptophan, indicating that the concentration of tryptophan in the whole brain reflects that at sites of serotonin synthesis. In turn, the concentration of brain tryptophan is positively correlated with that of free serum tryptophan (tryptophan is the only amino acid bound to serum proteins) and negatively to that of other amino acids competing with tryptophan for the same transport from blood to brain. Consistently, experiments in rats have shown that treatments which increase free tryptophan in serum (in respect to competing amino acids) also increase brain tryptophan and serotonin turnover. Conversely, the ingestion of diets containing all amino acids except tryptophan cause a dramatic fall in free serum tryptophan and a parallel decline in brain tryptophan and serotonin synthesis. In man the administration of an amino acid mixture lacking trytophan produces a marked depletion in serum tryptophan concentration.