Major depression is a severe and heterogeneous psychiatric disease with high, increasing prevalence and socio-economic impact.1 The serotonergic system is implicated in the etiology and treatment of mood disorders.2 Most prescribed antidepressants, the selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and the dual 5-HT and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors block physiological reuptake mech...

We compared the electrophysiological responses to serotonin (5-HT) of neonatal and juvenile rat hypoglossal motoneurons (HMs) by using intracellular recording techniques in a brainstem slice preparation. In neonatal HMs (</=P8), 5-HT caused a substantial decrease in the amplitude of spike afterhyperpolarization (AHP) that was associated with an increase in the minimal repetitive firing frequenc...

5-HT neurons are topographically organized in the hindbrain, and have been implicated in the etiology and treatment of psychiatric diseases such as depression and anxiety. Early studies suggested that the raphe 5-HT neurons were a homogeneous population showing similar electrical properties, and feedback inhibition mediated by 5-HT1A autoreceptors. We utilized histochemistry techniques in ePet1...

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potential role of 5-HT1A receptors in the antidepressant-like effect and antinociceptive effect of venlafaxine. With this aim, the effect of either a selective 5-HT1A receptor antagonist (WAY-100635; N-2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]-N-2-pyridinylcyclohexane carboxamide) or a selective 5-HT1A receptor agonist (8-OH-DPAT; 8-hydroxy-2-(d...

The bleeding and haemorrhage is strictly related with accidents and many medical procedures. In some conditions it leads to hypovolaemia and further to hypovolaemic shock. Under conditions of haemorrhagic shock, heart rate and blood pressure critically collapse. Reversing the sympathoinhibitory phase of hypovolaemia could be crucial for clinical management of injured patients after haemorrhage....

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) represent one of the most common treatment options in major depression and anxiety disorders. By blocking the serotonin transporter, SSRIs modulate serotonergic neurotransmission as well as the function of autoreceptors and heteroreceptors. However, treatment-induced changes on a network level primarily remain unknown. Thus, we evaluated the assoc...

A neuronal cell model endogenously expressing the 5-HT1A receptor, in which to study the function and regulation of this gene, has yet to be identified. We examined murine SN-48 cells, a septum x neuroblastoma fusion cell line that proliferates in a nondifferentiated state but can be induced to differentiate into neurofilament-positive cells following 24-96 hr treatment with 10 microM retinoic ...

The ligand binding and G-protein coupling of the bovine hippocampal 5-HT1A receptor as a function of temperature was monitored. There is an almost complete and irreversible loss in agonist binding at 50 degrees C. However, the antagonist binding is reduced only by 50%, and this could be reversed if the temperature is lowered to 25 degrees C. Interestingly, the agonist binding of the 5-HT1A rece...

Electrophysiological and biochemical approaches were used to assess possible changes in central 5-HT neurotransmission in mice that had been subjected to chronic ultramild stress for 8 weeks. This treatment produced a significant decrease in the potency of the 5-HT1A agonist ipsapirone to inhibit the electrical activity of serotoninergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus, without modifying 5-...