Anti-Tryptophan Hydroxylase Antibody

Tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) catalyzes the first step in the biosynthesis of serotonin and melatonin (Martinez et al., 2001). Thus, expression of TPH can be used as an indicator of the localization of serotonin and melatonin in brain. In mammals, serotonin biosynthesis occurs predominantly in neurons which originate in the Raphe nuclei of the brain, and melatonin synthesis takes place within the pineal gland (Haycock et al., 2002) . Although TPH catalyzes the same reaction within the Raphe nuclei and the pineal gland, TPH activity is rate-limiting for serotonin but not melatonin biosynthesis (Martinez et al., 2001).