Sleep and serotonin: an unfinished story.
Serotonin (5-HT) was first believed to be a true neuromodulator of sleep because the destruction of 5-HT neurons of the raphe system or the inhibition of 5-HT synthesis with p-chlorophenylalanine induced a severe insomnia which could be reversed by restoring 5-HT synthesis. However the demonstration that the electrical activity of 5-HT perikarya and the release of 5-HT are increased during waking and decreased during sleep was in direct contradiction to this hypothesis. More recent experiments suggest that the release of 5-HT during waking may initiate a cascade of genomic events in some hypnogenic neurons located in the preoptic area. Thus, when 5-HT is released during waking, it leads to an homeostatic regulation of slow-wave sleep.
Jouvet
M
M
Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France.
D000818:Animals; D010134:Fenclonine / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D012702:Serotonin Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology
D012702:Serotonin Antagonists; D012701:Serotonin; D010134:Fenclonine