Serotonin detection

An interdigitated gold microarray electrode coated with Nation has recently been used to detect serotonin in human whole blood samples (20 pL) to monitor allergic response, during which serotonin is secreted into the bloodstream [111]. Results showed excellent agreement between electrochemically monitored serotonin... 

The neurokinin, substance P (SP), may be involved as a sensory transmitter in afferent vagal nerves involved in the vomiting reflex. Both SP and its receptors (NKi receptors) have been detected in several areas of the brain associated with vomiting, including the AP, NTS and dorsal motor vagal nucleus. The neurokinin can activate neurons in the AP and NTS. SP is present also in sensory nerves in the gut as well as being co-localised with serotonin in some enterochromaffin cells. 

As noted earlier, the only other method presently available for detecting serotonergic dysfunction in living humans involves neuroendocrine challenge with serotonin-active drugs (Cowen and Anderson 1976). One such... 

Rats that have lost dopamine and/or serotonin terminals following treatment with amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, MDA, / -chloroamphetamine, or fenfluramine show little in the way of overt ehanges in appearanee or behavior. Dr. Rieaurte (this volume) emphasized the need for more studies in primates, since MPTP-treated miee also show little in the way of observable functional changes, whereas MPTP-treated monkeys show marked neurologie deficits. It may be neeessary to do more detailed analysis of speeifie behaviors and other funetional outputs that are influeneed by dopamine and/or serotonin neurons, to detect functional deficits induced by some neurotoxic drugs. For instance, specific behaviors sueh as appetite-eontrolled behavior (Leibowitz and Shor-Posner 1986), murieidal behavior (Katz 1980), and sexual behavior (Tucker and File 1983) elieited by drugs... 

Drosophila Ddc is expressed primarily in the CNS and the hypoderm, the epithelial layer of the fly that secretes the cuticle. In the CNS, Ddc is expressed in a small subset of neurons that produce either dopamine or serotonin (Budnik and White, 1988 Valles and White, 1988). In the hypoderm, Ddc expression leads to synthesis of dopamine, which is further metabolized into quinones that have a vital function in the cross-linking, hardening, and pigmentation of the fly cuticle (Wright, 1987). The developmental profile of DDC activity in these two tissues is quite different (Hirsh, 1986). DDC is first detected during late embryo-... 

Figure 3. Sketch of DDC-expressing neurons in the Drosophila larval CNS. The CNS consists of brain lobes and a segmented ventral ganglion. Filled circles represent dopamine cells open circles represent serotonin cells grayed circles represent DDC cells that contain no detectable tyrosine hydroxylase or serotonin immunoreactivity, indicating that these cells may produce neither transmitter (Lundell and Hirsh, 1994). M, medial dopamine neurons VL, ventrolateral serotonin neurons DL, dorsolateral dopamine neurons. The hatched rectangle shows the region of the ventral ganglion that is shown in Figures 4 and 6.

Figure 15.14 illustrates a typical voltammetric result for the determination of dopamine in the presence of ascorbic acid with a CNT-modified electrode. The selective voltammetric detection of uric acid [82] or norepinephrine [83] in the presence of ascorbic acid has been demonstrated with a (3-cyclodextrin-modified electrodes incorporating CNTs. Ye et al. [84] have studied the electrocatalytic oxidation of uric acid and ascorbic acid at a well-aligned CNT electrode, which can be used for the selective determination of uric acid in the presence of ascorbic acid. The simultaneous determination of dopamine and serotonin on a CNT-modified GC electrode has also been described [85],... 

Sensitive electrochemical techniques have also been developed to directly measure the release of oxidizable neurotransmitters such as catecholamines (CAs) and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT). Current flows in the circuit when the potential of the electrode is positive enough to withdraw electrons from, i.e. oxidize, the released neurotransmitter. The technique is very sensitive and readily detects the release of individual quanta of neuro transmitter resulting from the fusion of single secretory vesicles to the plasmalemma (Fig. 10-2). 

Finally, RNA editing can be involved, as in the case of the amphibian bombesin-like peptides, where nucleotides in the mRNA are changed and the final protein is not a direct reflection of the sequence encoded in the gene. RNA editing is also seen in the glutamate (Ch. 15) and serotonin receptors (Ch. 13 and Ch. 15) and probably will be found elsewhere as detection methods become more sophisticated. 

More than twenty indole derivatives have been identified from bufonid skin extracts. The indolylalkylamines bufotenidine, bufotenine, de-hydrobufotenine, bufo-tionine and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) (Fig. 39.2b) have been identified in skin secretions of Bufo marinus, while the latter four have been detected in parotoid gland secretions (Erspamer 1994 Maciel, Schwartz, Pires Jr, Sebben, Castro, Sousa, Fontes and Schwartz 2003). The concentration of serotonin in the dried secretion of B. marinus was found to equate to approximately 0.1% of the total composition and primarily acts as a vasoconstrictor (Gregerman 1952 Toledo and Jared 1995). 

Biogenic amines are of great interest to researchers because of their potential roles in several psychiatric and neurological disorders. They include dopamine (DA), noradrenaline (NA), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, serotonin), histamine, and trace amines such as 2-phenylethylamine (PEA), tyramine, octopamine, phenylethanolamine, and tryptamine (Coutts and Baker, 1982). Although GC assays for DA, NA, and 5-HT are available, HPLC analysis with electrochemical detection has for many years now been the method of choice for analysis of these neurotransmitter amines. 

Kalen P, Strecker RE, Rosengren E, Bjorklund A. 1988. Endogenous release of neuronal serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in the caudate-putamen of the rat as revealed by intracerebral dialysis coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection. J Neurochem 51(5) 1422-1435. 

The detection of serotonin in nervous and non-nervous tissue was aided by the development of the Falck-Hillarp histochemical technique, a method whereby freeze-dried sections of tissue, when exposed to formaldehyde vapour cause indoleamines to emit a yellow fluorescence. Dahlstrom and Fuxe used this technique to show that the highest concentration of serotonin in the brain is located in the raphe nuclei, projections from these cell bodies ascending to the forebrain via the medial forebrain bundle. Descending fibres were also shown to project to the dorsal and lateral horns and the intermediolateral column of the spinal cord. Detailed observation of the distribution of the serotonergic system in the brain became possible with... 

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