Hepatic encephalopathy serotonin

Many of the neuropsychiatric symptoms in early hepatic encephalopathy, such as altered sleep patterns, are signs that have classically been attributed to modifications of serotoninergic neurotransmission. Serotonin turnover, as indicated by the ratio of the concentrations of the metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid to serotonin, is increased in brain in both human and experimental hepatic encephalopathy. 

Bugge M, Bengtsson F, Nobin A, et al. 1988. Serotonin metabolism in the rat brain following ammonia administration. In Soeters PB, Wilson JHP, Meijer AJ, et al., eds. Advances in ammonia metabolism and hepatic encephalopathy. New York, NY Excerpta Medica. 

Kaneko, K., Kurumaji, A., Watanabe, A., Yamada, S., and Torn, M. 1998. Changes in high K-i-evoked serotonin release and serotonin 2A/2C receptor binding in the frontal cortex of rats with thioacetamide-induced hepatic encephalopathy. J. Neural Transm. 105 13-30. 

Yurdaydin, C., Herneth, A.M., Puspok, A., Steindl, R, Singer, E., and Ferenci, P. 1996. Modulation of hepatic encephalopathy in rats with thioacetamide-induced acute liver failure by serotonin antagonists. Eur. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 8 667-671. 

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