THE EFFECTS OF SEROTONIN MANIPULATION DURING THE POSTNATAL-PERIOD ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC AND NON-DIMORPHIC LUMBOSACRAL MOTOR-NEURON GROUPS IN THE ALBINO SWISS RAT

Serotonin (5-HT) may act during development as a neurotrophic agent. Evidence suggests that sexually dimorphic regions of the mammalian nervous system (which often possess sexually dimorphic patterns of 5-HT innervation) could provide a model for this aspect of 5-HT action. Albino Swiss rat pups were treated with p-chlorophenyl alanine (pCPA, 200 mg/kg) or 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP, 75 mg/kg) for 14 days after birth. As adults, the number of motor neurons in the sexually dimorphic spinal nucleus of bulbocavernosus (SNB) and dorsolateral nucleus (DLN), together with the non-dimorphic ventromedial nucleus (VM) were analysed. Postnatal treatment with 5-HTP had a general effect of increasing motor neuron numbers in all three groups. However, pCPA treatment had a marked and specific effect on SNB neuron numbers, increasing these in both sexes (+250% in females and +60% in males) compared with control animals. The results suggest that the postnatal innervation of ventral horn motor neurons by 5-HT-containing terminals may affect cell death at this time.