A J Bond1, J Wingrove, D G Critchlow. 1. Section of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK. a.bond@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Abstract
RATIONALE: Reducing serotonin by the method of tryptophan depletion (TD) has led to increased aggression but experimental studies have not used female subjects. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of TD on aggression in women in the late luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. METHODS:Healthy women were recruited and randomly assigned to an amino acid drink either depleted or with a balanced amount of tryptophan. At 4.5 h later, they competed on the competitive reaction time task. RESULTS: Women who had received theTD drink showed more behavioural aggression in response to provocation. CONCLUSION: Decreased serotonergic neurotransmission increases aggression in women as well as men.
RCT Entities:
RATIONALE: Reducing serotonin by the method of tryptophan depletion (TD) has led to increased aggression but experimental studies have not used female subjects. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of TD on aggression in women in the late luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. METHODS: Healthy women were recruited and randomly assigned to an amino acid drink either depleted or with a balanced amount of tryptophan. At 4.5 h later, they competed on the competitive reaction time task. RESULTS:Women who had received the TD drink showed more behavioural aggression in response to provocation. CONCLUSION: Decreased serotonergic neurotransmission increases aggression in women as well as men.
Authors: Michael S McCloskey; Dror Ben-Zeev; Royce Lee; Mitchell E Berman; Emil F Coccaro Journal: Psychopharmacology (Berl) Date: 2008-10-23 Impact factor: 4.530