BBC-2 in the UK has just screened a program on obesity. In the
second half, they had a neuroscientist claiming that fenfluramine
was a known neurotoxin, and that it was used in fact 8as* as
neurotoxin by researchers. They then showed some photomicrographs
of 5-HT neurone (immunoreactivity?, fluroreactivity?) in the rat
brain showing a very sparse density in the fenfluramine treated
animals compared to controls.
It's 15 years since I did work on monoamines, 6-OHDA, DSP-4, 5-7-
DHT etc and the monoamines, but back then, fenfluramine was
regarded as a 5-HT analogue of the catecholamine active
amphetamines.
Things may have radically changed, but is it not the case that
the observed "depletions" may be just that? depleted neurones
because of enhanced turnover in the treated animals?
--
David Longley
'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`''`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`'`
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