[Serotonin metabolism in several hereditary extrapyramidal diseases]

The authors studied the serotonin content in 43 patients with hereditary extrapyramidal diseases and in 30 normals (the control group). The thrombocyte serotonin was determined according to the modified Crawford method. The results of the study displayed that there was a highly significant drop in the level of serotonin in patients with torsion distonia (more expressed in subgroup 3, in patients with prevalent tonic disturbances and fixed pathological poses), and in akinetico-rigid variants of Huntington's chorea. In patients with hereditary pallidary degenerative diseases there was a tendency to a drop in the serotonin level.