Neurochemical and behavioral consequences of acute, uncontrollable stress: Effects of dietary tyrosine
Abstract
Acute, uncontrollable stress increases norepinephrine (NE) turnover in the rat's brain (thereby depleting NE) and diminishes the animal's subsequent tendency to explore a novel environment. We determined whether supplemental dietary tyrosine could prevent some of these changes. Rats given a control diet or diets enriched with tyrosine or tyrosine plus valine were exposed to tail-shock stress or to no stress over a 60-min period. Exposure to the stress caused an increase in NE turnover, decreasing NE and increasing 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethylene glycol sulfate (MHPG-SO4) concentrations within the locus coeruleus, hypothalamus and hippocampus. No changes were detected in serotonin (5-HT) levels or turnover. Behavioral deficits following the stress were observed using measures of locomotion and of exploration in a novel open-field environment: stressed animals displayed much less spontaneous motor activity, hole-poking or frequency of standing on their hind legs than control animals. Animals receiving the tyrosine-enriched diet displayed neither the stress-induced depletion of NE nor the behavioral depression. These preventive effects of tyrosine were abolished by co-administration of valine, a large neutral amino acid that competes with tyrosine for transport across the blood-brain barrier. Since tyrosine alone, in animals not subjected to stress, did not change NE turnover nor the behaviors studied, our observations affirm that catecholaminergic neurons respond to the prec…
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Supplementation of TYR, or TYR-containing diets, increases plasma TYR and enhances brain DA and NE release.
“The supplementation of TYR, or TYR-containing diets, increase plasma TYR and enhance brain DA and NE release (Lehnert et al., 1984; Reinstein et al., 1984; Acworth et al., 1988; During et al., 1988; see Deijen, 2005, for a comprehensive review).”
From Working Memory Reloaded: Tyrosine Repletes Updating in the N-Back Task (2013) · cites this paper as Lehnert et al., 1984
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“The supplementation of TYR, or TYR-containing diets, increase plasma TYR and enhance brain DA and NE release (Lehnert et al., 1984; Reinstein et al., 1984; Acworth et al., 1988; During et al., 1988; see Deijen, 2005, for a comprehensive review).”
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Tyrosine: Effects on catecholamine release
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- Authors
- Lehnert, H., Reinstein, D. K., Strowbridge, B. W., & Wurtman, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wurtman, Richard J.
- ORCID
- Reinstein, Daniel K.
- Venue
- Brain Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1984-06
- Volume
- 303
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 215-223
- ISSN
- 0006-8993 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2015879934
- Cited by
- 170
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 3.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Brain Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
- Keywords
- acute stress, uncontrollable stress, norepinephrine turnover, MHPG, locus coeruleus, hypothalamus, hippocampus, serotonin, valine, large neutral amino acids, blood-brain barrier, locomotor activity, exploratory behavior, catecholaminergic neurons
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Arousal, Blood-Brain Barrier, Brain, Helplessness, Learned, Humans, Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid, Methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol, Motor Activity, Norepinephrine, Rats, Inbred Strains, Serotonin, Stress, Physiological, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Valine, Rats
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