Serotonin pharmacological aspects

It has been reported that serotonin can produce opposite and complementary action on neuronal functioning, maturation, proliferation and apoptosis, depending on the kind and the density of receptors synthesized by the cells [1]. There are at least fourteen different receptor subtypes described for 5-HT, 13 different heptahelical G-protein-coupled receptors and one ligand-gated ion channel (Table 3). The 5-HT receptor family has been, and is at present, subjected to intense research. Excellent and complete reviews of functional, molecular and pharmacological aspects of 5-HT receptors have been published [5-7]. 

Recently a systematic investigation of the conformational and electronic aspects of pharmacology has been launched in our laboratory, using the PCILO method. The compounds investigated for which results are already available are those which have been previously investigated by the EHT method acetylcholine, nicotine and muscarine 84>, serotonine 85 histamine 86), ephedrine, norephedrine and dopamine 87>, but also others tyramine, noradrenaline, ephedrine, amphetamine and privine 87), a number of barbiturates 88 and a number... 

A unique aspect of acute tryptophan depletion is that it reduces brain serotonin with a specificity that most pharmacological probes are unable to achieve due to their simultaneous effects on multiple synaptic systems. For example, in healthy subjects, tryptophan depletion causes an acute, but brief, lowering of mood.19 21-23... 

Ibogaine can affect several aspects of serotonergic transmission at concentrations that are readily achieved in the brain following pharmacologically relevant doses [reviewed by Sershen et al. (I8S)]. Because multiple serotonin receptor subtypes, as well as serotonin re-uptake, are modulated by ibogaine, it is not surprising that the effects of this alkaloid on steady-... 

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