title: Serotonergic regulation of associative learning.
abstract: This paper presents a review of studies dealing with the effects of 5-HT agonists and antagonists on learning as measured by classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response or the conditioned avoidance response in the rat. These studies indicate that the 5-HT2A/2C receptors are importantly involved in learning. In these behavioral paradigms, enhancement of learning is only produced by drugs that are agonists at the 5-HT2A/2C receptors, and this enhancement is only blocked by drugs that are antagonists at these receptors. In addition, evidence is presented for the existence of two classes of 5-HT2A/2C antagonists consisting of negative antagonists that retard learning when given alone (ritanserin, MDL-11,939, pizotifen and cyproheptadine) and those that are neutral antagonists in that they have no effect on learning (ketanserin, mianserin, BOL and LY-53,857). However, both the neutral and negative antagonists are equally capable of blocking the enhancement of learning produced by 5-HT2A/2C agonists. It was concluded that 5-HT2A and/or 5-HT2C agonists may provide a new approach to the treatment of learning disorders in aging or Alzheimer's disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University, Philadelphia 19129, USA. harvey@ccc.medcolpa.edu
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D012702:Serotonin Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D012702:Serotonin Antagonists; D017366:Serotonin Receptor Agonists; D012701:Serotonin