Acute Tryptophan Depletion Moja-De: A Method to Study Central Nervous Serotonin Function in Children and Adolescents

Richard M Stewart; Janice W Y Wong; Simone Mahfouda; Hugo A E Morandini; Pradeep Rao; Kevin C Runions; Florian D Zepf

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.01007

Acute Tryptophan Depletion Moja-De: A Method to Study Central Nervous Serotonin Function in Children and Adolescents

Front Psychiatry. 2020 Mar 6:10:1007. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.01007. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Richard M Stewart¹, Janice W Y Wong^{1

2

3}, Simone Mahfouda^{1

2

4}, Hugo A E Morandini¹, Pradeep Rao^{1

5}, Kevin C Runions^{1

2

5}, Florian D Zepf^{1

2

6}

Affiliations

¹ Centre & Discipline of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
² Brain and Behaviour, Telethon Kids Institute, Perth, WA, Australia.
³ Specialised Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Department of Health, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁴ School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁵ Community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Department of Health, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany.

Abstract

Serotonin (5-HT) is widely implicated as a key neurotransmitter relevant to a range of psychiatric disorders and psychological processes. The role of central nervous 5-HT function underlying these processes can be examined through serotonergic challenge methodologies. Acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) is a key challenge method whereby a diminished dietary intake of tryptophan-the amino acid precursor to brain 5-HT synthesis-results in temporary diminished central nervous 5-HT synthesis. While this particular methodology has been used in adult populations, it was only recently that modifications were made to enable the use of ATD in child and adolescent populations. Additionally, the Moja-De modification of the ATD challenge methodology has demonstrated benefits over other ATD techniques used previously. The aim of this protocol paper is to describe the ATD Moja-De methodology in detail, its benefits, as well as studies that have been conducted to validate the procedure in child and adolescent samples. The ATD Moja-De protocol provides a potential methodology for investigating the role of central nervous 5-HT via manipulation of brain tryptophan availability in human psychopathology from a developmental viewpoint.

Keywords: ATD; ATD Moja-De in child and adolescent populations; Moja-De; acute tryptophan depletion; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; central nervous 5-HT; serotonin challenge procedure.