Abstract
Blood serotonin (5HT) has been shown to be elevated in 30% of autistic children and 50% of severely mentally retarded children. Ninety-eight normal adult subjects were studied to determined if there was an inverse relationship between whole blood 5HT in normal adults of average and above-average intelligence. There was a trend toward a negative correlation between whole blood 5HT and Vocabulary scores that would not account for hyperserotonemia in autistic or mentally retarded individuals. Female subjects had significantly greater whole blood 5HT than male subjects. There was no difference in whole blood 5HT collected before and after volume depletion of 450 ml, providing further evidence of the intraindividual stability of whole blood serotonin levels. There was no relationship between age and whole blood 5HT in a group of normal adult subjects.
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This study was completed with the assistance of the Blood Bank staff at the University of Chicago Medical Center. In addition, the study was supported by the Freedman-Falk Academic Psychiatry Fund, the Harris Center for Developmental Studies, and NICCHD postdoctoral training grant #HDMC 5T32 HD07307-02 HCB.
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Cook, E.H., Leventhal, B.L. & Freedman, D.X. Serotonin and measured intelligence. J Autism Dev Disord 18, 553–559 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02211873
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02211873