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Brain Catecholamines and Human Sleep

Nature volume 233, pages 63–65 (1971)Cite this article

Abstract

WE have previously noted what seemed to be marked discrepancies between human and other mammalian species in the association of serotonin and sleep1–3. Furthermore, L-dopa, the immediate precursor of dopamine and noradrenaline, by producing a decrease in human rapid eye movement (REM) sleep4 (an opposite effect from the predictions based on animal studies5), indicated that there might also be differences between human and other mammalian species in the adrenergic system. To further determine the role of the adrenergic nervous system in human sleep we studied the effect of depleting brain Catecholamines by administration of alpha-methyl-d 1-paratyrosine (AMPT) and alpha-methyl-P-phenylalanine (AMPHe), which are potent and specific inhibitors of catecholamine synthesis6,7.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Mental Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014

    RICHARD J. WYATT, THOMAS N. CHASE, DAVID J. KUPFER, JIMMY SCOTT & FREDERICK SNYDER

  2. National Heart Institute, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland, 20014

    ALBERT SJOERDSMA & KARL ENGELMAN

Authors
  1. RICHARD J. WYATT
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  2. THOMAS N. CHASE
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  3. DAVID J. KUPFER
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  4. JIMMY SCOTT
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  5. FREDERICK SNYDER
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  6. ALBERT SJOERDSMA
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  7. KARL ENGELMAN
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WYATT, R., CHASE, T., KUPFER, D. et al. Brain Catecholamines and Human Sleep. Nature 233, 63–65 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/233063a0

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