| abstract |
The invention relates to a method for the diagnosis of neuronal diseases and for the treatment of deficient primary hemostasis. Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for suppressing the immune system, which u. a. is important for transplantation medicine and for the treatment of allergies. Areas of application of the invention are medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. DOLLAR A The invention is implemented according to the claims. The invention is based on the essential discovery that serotonin is synthesized in the body by differently expressed TPH isoenzymes in the neurons and in peripheral tissues. Genetic targeting has shown that an isoform, the peripheral enzyme (also called TPH), is responsible for maintaining primary hemostasis and T-cell mediated immune responses. Another isoform, the newly identified neuron-specific TPH (called nTPH) synthesizes serotonin independently in the CNS. DOLLAR A The invention also relates to the newly found neuronal tryptophan hydroxylase (nTPH), which differs from the previously known TPH in the regulatory domain. |