AN ANTISEROTONIN WHICH IS ACTIVE WHEN FED

¹ Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York, N. Y.

The rise in arterial blood pressure which follows the intravenous injection of serotonin into anesthetized, but otherwise normal, dogs, was abolished by prior feeding of the animal with 2-methyl-3-ethyl-5-nitroindole, a structural analog of serotonin. The related aminoindole (2,3-dimethyl-5-aminoindole) was found to prevent this rise in blood pressure when it was given intravenously, but when it was fed, only a partial interference with a challenging dose of serotonin was observed. The analogs did not abolish the transient fall in blood pressure which preceded the rise. The importance of an orally active antiserotonin was stressed. The nitroindole analog did not antagonize the action of serotonin in vitro on segments of carotid artery, while the corresponding aminoindole did. The relationship of this finding to the poor performance of the aminoindole as an antiserotonin when fed was discussed. The nitroindole was not found to lower the blood pressure of normal dogs after they had eaten it. No other poisonous effects were observed in dogs or mice which had eaten this compound for relatively short periods.

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