ReviewJournal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN2013
Acute tryptophan depletion in humans: a review of theoretical, practical and ethical aspects.
Review in Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 55 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
55 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- The association between tryptophan levels and postpartum mood disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Effects of tryptophan depletion on anxiety, a systematic review.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Facial expressions of pain: the role of the serotonergic system.Psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- The effects of acute tryptophan depletion on instrumental reward learning in anorexia nervosa - an fMRI study.Psychological medicine · 2023Trial
- No effects of acute tryptophan depletion on anxiety or mood in weight-recovered female patients with anorexia nervosa.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Trial
- Serotonin depletion impairs both Pavlovian and instrumental reversal learning in healthy humans.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Effect of Tryptophan Depletion on Conditioned Threat Memory Expression: Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2021Trial
- The Effects of Tryptophan Enhancement and Depletion on Plasma Catecholamine Levels in Healthy Individuals.Psychosomatic medicine · 2019Trial
- Sumatriptan improves postoperative quality of recovery and reduces postcraniotomy headache after cranial nerve decompression.British journal of anaesthesia · 2016Trial
- Serotonin and dopamine differentially affect appetitive and aversive general Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer.Psychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- Relationship between dietary protein intake and serum essential free amino acid concentrations in Japanese pregnant women: an observational study.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Observational
- Autoantibody profiling of autism spectrum disorder patients with monoamine oxidase a deficiency.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Article
- Review
- Brain serotonin, oxytocin, and their interaction: Relevance for eating disorders.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2025Review
- Migraine and the microbiota. Can probiotics be beneficial in its prevention? - a narrative review.Pharmacological reports : PR · 2024Review
- Dysfunction in endocannabinoids, palmitoylethanolamide, and degradation of tryptophan into kynurenine in individuals with depressive symptoms.BMC medicine · 2024Article
- Effect of Tryptophan Restriction in the Therapy of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: a Systematic Review.International journal of general medicine · 2024Review
- Techniques for Measurement of Serotonin: Implications in Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Advances in Absolute Value Recording Methods.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) technique has been used extensively to study the effect of low serotonin in the human brain. This review assesses the validity of a number of published criticisms of the technique and a number of previously unpublished potential criticisms. The conclusion is that ATD can provide useful information when results are assessed in conjunction with results obtained using other techniques. The best-established conclusion is that low serotonin function after tryptophan depletion lowers mood in some people. However, this does not mean that other variables, altered after tryptophan depletion, are necessarily related to low serotonin. Each aspect of brain function has to be assessed separately. Furthermore, a negative tryptophan depletion study does not mean that low serotonin cannot influence the variable studied. This review suggests gaps in knowledge that need to be filled and guidelines for carrying out ATD studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.