There is evidence that hydroxycitric acid (HCA), an extract of dried fruit
rind of South Asian trees of the genus Garcinia cambogia, can reduce food i
ntake in experimental animals. In the present study, we investigated the ef
fect of HCA on basal and potassium-depolarization evoked increase in radiol
abeled serotonin ([H-3]-5-HT) release from rat brain cortex slices in vitro
. HCA (10 muM-1 mM) altered the baseline of spontaneous tritium efflux but
had no significant effect on potassium-evoked release of [H-3]-5-HT. When a
pplied on its own, HCA (10 muM-1 mM) elicited a concentration-dependent inc
rease in efflux of [H-3]-5-HT reaching a maximum at 300 muM. We conclude th
at HCA can increase the release of radiolabeled 5-HT from the isolated rat
brain cortex.