title: The complex role of the serotonin transporter in adult neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. A critical review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies on the serotonin transporter (SERT) with regard to neurogenesis and neuroplastic effects on the adult brain are scarce. This is intriguing since neurogenesis is believed to play a decisive role in modulating the effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), which are targeting SERT.
  
  
  METHODS
  Therefore, we reviewed the current scientific literature about the influence of serotonin on neurogenesis with particular emphasis on SERT in various settings, both in vivo and in vitro.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experiments using SERT KO (knock-out) animal models showed that SERT does not directly or indirectly influence neurogenesis in vitro, whereas compensatory mechanism seem to participate in vivo.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  At least with regard to adult neural stem cells, the impact of serotonin (5-HT) on neuroplasticity and neurogenesis is not due to SERT-mediated effcts. Instead, serotonergic fine-tuning may be exerted by a number of other different mechanisms including endogenous production of 5-HT in adult neural stem cells, uptake of 5-HT into adult neural stem cells by other monoamine transporters, and actions of the 5-HT1A receptors present on these cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, LMU-University of Munich, Munich, Germany. jens.benninghoff@med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Benninghoff
authors.forename: Amelie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Ven
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Schloesser
authors.forename: Rainald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Moessner
authors.forename: Hans Jürgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rujescu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C493230:SLC6A4 protein, human; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins