A steady and long-term increase of the endogenous serotonine concentration in the lungs, spleen, and brain achieved by administration of nontoxic doses of
indopan, an inhibitor of monoamineoxidase, caused a significant decrease of resistance of animals to influenza virus in acute
infection. After natural route of inoculation with 20 LD50 of the allantoic
influenza A3/WSN (HON1) virus strain in the animals treated with
indopan the area of lung affection with specific
influenza pneumonia increased, the virus concentration in the lungs and spleen rose sharply, the titre of
IgM antibody in the blood decreased; the animal mortality in this group also increased. The level of
serotonin in the blood and organs of latently infected animals became normal 6 weeks after virus inoculation. In some of these animals, however,
indopan caused a greater increase of
serotonin level in the lungs than in intact mice of the same weight and age. Without changing the
amine levels in the spleen and the brain,
indopan caused 4-16-fold increase in the titer of specific antihemagglutinins in the blood, mostly of
IgM fraction, as compared with the controls. In latent
influenza infection the balance of
serotonin metabolism in the lungs in unstable.