Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface: Focus on the serotonin transporter
- 1 Presynaptic adaptive responses to constitutive versus adult pharmacologic inhibition of serotonin uptake
- 2 Cellular and molecular alterations in animal models of serotonin transporter disruption: a comparison between developmental and adult stages
- 3 Developmental roles for the serotonin transporter
- 4 SERT models of emotional dysregulation
- 5 The serotonin transporter and animal models of depression
- 6 The serotonin transporter knock-out rat: a review
- 7 Wistar–Zagreb 5HT rats: a rodent model with constitutional upregulation/downregulation of serotonin transporter
- 8 The role of the serotonin transporter in reward mechanisms
- 9 Modeling SERT × BDNF interactions in brain disorders: single BDNF gene allele exacerbates brain monoamine deficiencies and increases stress abnormalities in serotonin transporter knock-out mice
- 10 Primate models in serotonin transporter research
- 11 The role of serotonin transporter in modeling psychiatric disorders: focus on depression, emotion regulation, and the social brain
- Index
- Plate section
- References
2 - Cellular and molecular alterations in animal models of serotonin transporter disruption: a comparison between developmental and adult stages
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface: Focus on the serotonin transporter
- 1 Presynaptic adaptive responses to constitutive versus adult pharmacologic inhibition of serotonin uptake
- 2 Cellular and molecular alterations in animal models of serotonin transporter disruption: a comparison between developmental and adult stages
- 3 Developmental roles for the serotonin transporter
- 4 SERT models of emotional dysregulation
- 5 The serotonin transporter and animal models of depression
- 6 The serotonin transporter knock-out rat: a review
- 7 Wistar–Zagreb 5HT rats: a rodent model with constitutional upregulation/downregulation of serotonin transporter
- 8 The role of the serotonin transporter in reward mechanisms
- 9 Modeling SERT × BDNF interactions in brain disorders: single BDNF gene allele exacerbates brain monoamine deficiencies and increases stress abnormalities in serotonin transporter knock-out mice
- 10 Primate models in serotonin transporter research
- 11 The role of serotonin transporter in modeling psychiatric disorders: focus on depression, emotion regulation, and the social brain
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
Serotonin transporter (SERT, 5-HTT) plays an important role in the regulation of emotional states. It is a target for the most widely used class of antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and is also related to a genetic factor underlying the pathogenesis of affective disorders. Humans with lower SERT expression genotypes show a higher neuroticism score and are more sensitive to stress, suggesting that low SERT expression during development may be a trigger for affective disorders. On the other hand, repeated administration of SSRIs reduces the stress response and treats affective disorders. These observations suggest that disruption of SERT function early in life and in adulthood produces different phenotypes. Thus, understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying these phenotypes will help us to understand the pathogenesis of affective disorders and develop better therapeutic approaches for their treatment. Animal models with altered SERT function provide useful tools for the studies concerning this purpose. This chapter is intended to overview current available data concerning the cellular and molecular alterations in the models in which SERT functions are disrupted during different developmental stages. We will focus on a comparison between constitutive SERT knock-out mice and repeated administration of SSRIs in adulthood. Furthermore, studies concerning the prenatal administration of SSRIs and genomic manipulation of SERT expression in adulthood are also discussed.
INTRODUCTION
The serotonin (5-HT) transporter (SERT, 5-HTT) functions as a 5-HT reuptake site to take extracellular 5-HT back into the nerve terminals and, therefore, terminates the action of 5-HT. Thus, the function of SERT is critical for controlling 5-HT activity, which plays an important role in emotional regulation.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Experimental Models in Serotonin Transporter Research , pp. 43 - 77Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
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