Serotonin involvement in the spontaneous alternation ability: a behavioral study in tryptophan-restricted rats.

Spontaneous alternation (SA) is controlled by septal cholinergic terminals in the hippocampus. Serotoninergic terminals end on cholinergic nerve endings in the hippocampus, and their possible role in SA was investigated in rats fed with a tryptophan-deficient diet, from weaning to 60 days of age. A T-maze was used for the test. At the age of 40 days, an increase in SA occurred in the tryptophan deficient rats, although this effect disappeared by 60 days of age. A modulatory role of serotonin in the psychoneural control of SA is suggested, and it may be through presynaptic inhibition of hippocampal cholinergic terminals.