Serotonin and stress.
Forty-five years after its discovery, brain serotonin (5-HT) is still the subject of intense research aimed at understanding its role in stress adaptation. At the presynaptic level, numerous stressors increase nerve firing and extracellular 5-HT at the level of serotonergic cell bodies or nerve terminals. Different studies have reported stressor- and region-specific changes in extracellular 5-HT, a view challenged by electrophysiological and neurochemical evidence for a nonspecific response of serotonergic neurones to stressors when activity/arousal is taken into account. In addition, early studies indicate that stress-induced elevation in 5-HT synthesis, a key counter-regulatory process allowing serotonergic homeostasis, is mediated by specific neuroendocrine mechanisms. In addition to the multiplicity of postsynaptic 5-HT receptors and their specific regulation by corticoids, specificity to stressors is also underscored when considering one receptor type such as the 5-HT1A receptor. Stress studies should consider the past experience and the genetic status of the individual as key modulators of the serotonergic responses to stress.
Chaouloff
F
F
INSERM U471, Institut Francois Magendie, Bordeaux, France. francis.chaouloff@bordeaux.inserm.fr
Berton
O
O
Mormède
P
P
D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D011903:Raphe Nuclei / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D044263:Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT1; D012701:Serotonin / Q000502:physiology*; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*
D011985:Receptors, Serotonin; D044263:Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT1; D012701:Serotonin