Maize Based Diets and Mouse-Killing Behavior in Rats

Abstract

Mouse-killing behavior is correlated with decrease in brain serotonergic tone, caused by injection of p- chlorophenylalanine (which blocks serotonin synthesis), or by tryptophan free diets,which slow down serotonin production because source of tryptophan is done only by endogenous proteins.Another experimental method is maize exclusive diet:maize is, among cereals, that one which has the lowest tryptophan content, and the lowest value of the ratio between tryptophan and its concurrent amino acids for neuron access. In a lot of experiments, maize based diets gave rise to brain serotonin deficiency and to mouse-killing behavior in previous non killer rats.