The effect of sodium -hydroxybutyrate on the metabolism of dopamine in the brain.

1. Sodium gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB-Na), when given to rats and mice, caused a sleep-like state and a fall in body temperature of about 10 degrees C.2. GHB-Na produced a dose-dependent increase in the concentration of dopamine (DA) in the brains of mice kept at an environmental temperature of 18-20 degrees C or 30-32 degrees C.3. The concentrations of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetic acid (HVA), the metabolites of DA, were increased in the striatal tissues of rats and mice, after the administration of GHB-Na. However there was a delay of 60 min before the concentration of HVA increased whereas there appeared to be little delay before the concentration of DOPAC increased.4. When GHB-Na was administered to reserpine-treated animals, no increase occurred in the concentration of dopamine in the brains of mice or rats, or of DOPAC in the rat brain.5. Reserpine did not prevent the induction of the sleep-like state by GHB-Na.6. The results presented suggest that the effect of GHB-Na in increasing the concentration of DA requires unimpaired storage mechanisms for the amine.