In order to investigate the possibility that, in the rat, some cerebral cortex somatostatin (SS) receptors may be localized presynaptically on the terminals of serotonergic neurons, serotonin [5-hydroxytryptamine, (5-HT)] neurons in the central nervous system were damaged with a local intracerebral injection of the serotonergic neurotoxin, 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine(5,7-DHT). The injection of 5,7-...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Rat major cerebral arteries seem to receive serotonergic fibers originating from the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), but little is known about their function. The aim of our present work was to establish a functional relationship between this brain stem nucleus and the cerebral blood vessels by studying the effects of several treatments in the DRN on cerebrovascular serotoner...

BACKGROUND Serotonergic medications with various mechanisms of action are used to treat psychiatric disorders and are being investigated as treatments for drug dependence. The occurrence of fenfluramine-associated valvular heart disease (VHD) has raised concerns that other serotonergic medications might also increase the risk of developing VHD. We hypothesized that fenfluramine or its metabolit...

Interleukin-1 (IL-1) and IL-1 receptors are constitutively expressed in normal brain. IL-1 increases non-rapid eye movements (NREM) sleep in several animal species, an effect mediated in part by interactions with the serotonergic system. The site(s) in brain at which interactions between IL-1 and the serotonergic system increase NREM sleep remain to be identified. The dorsal raphe (DRN) is the ...

The sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is postulated to result from a failure of homeostatic responses to life-threatening challenges (e.g. asphyxia, hypercapnia) during sleep. The ventral medulla participates in sleep-related homeostatic responses, including chemoreception, arousal, airway reflex control, thermoregulation, respiratory drive, and blood pressure regulation, in part via serotoni...

We analyzed whether acute treatment with serotonergic agonists would improve motor function in rats with transected spinal cords (spinal rats) and in rats that received transplants of fetal spinal cord into the transection site (transplant rats). Neonates received midthoracic spinal transections within 48 hr of birth; transplant rats received fetal (embryonic day 14) spinal cord grafts at the t...

BACKGROUND Depressed patients show deficits on neuropsychological tests. However, the basis of these impairments and their relationship with mood disturbance remains unclear. METHODS This paper reviews the literature regarding the relationship between mood disturbance and neuropsychological impairment in depression and the evidence for serotonergic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axi...