serotonin

Brain-injury rehabilitation depends on acetylcholine circuitry

...urotransmitters such as noradrenalin, dopamine, or serotonin have also been implicated in cortical plasticity and may also be manipulated to aid recovery after such injury. Publishing in Neuron, Volume 46, Number 2, April 21, 2005, pages 173?79. http://www.neuron.org ...

The circadian clock: Understanding nature's timepiece

...involves resetting the circadian clock by altering serotonin levels, the same neurotransmitter that the anti-depressant Prozac targets. He says it could one day be possible to move people ahead eight hours simply with a pill and light therapy. All terrestrial organisms ?even single-celled organisms ?have circ...

Second messenger NAADP shows fast, dose-related impact on satiety cycle

...osen because they released a chemical ?the hormone serotonin -- in the brain that controls satiation, as well as mood and body temperature. "More recently, another hormone, cholecystokinin, has been considered to be a potential drug target," Yamasaki noted. Cholecystokinin is a naturally-occurring chemical syn...

Depression gene may weaken mood-regulating circuit

...he depression-linked gene. The gene codes for the serotonin transporter, the protein in brain cells that recyc..., resulting in less recycling, increased levels of serotonin in the synapse, and more serotonin-triggered cellular activity. Previous NIMH-supported studies had ...

Tetanus toxin found to have therapeutic properties

...riments have shown that the harmless part inhibits serotonin from being transported through the synaptic membra...ks by selectively inhibiting the transportation of serotonin in the nerve endings. Behavioural disorders such as depression, anxiety and anorexia may be treated ...

Gambling monkeys give insight into neural machinery of risk

...people who have low levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin might be more risk prone and impulsive," said Plat...ion. We can do pharmacological manipulation of the serotonin system in monkeys to see how it influences risk perception and risk preferences, and whether we see ...

Researchers show how air pollution can cause heart disease

..., the researchers tested how the neurotransmitters serotonin and acetylcholine affected the aortic arches of PM...ontrol group, constricting more in the presence of serotonin and relaxing less in response to acetylcholine. Once again, the mice fed high-fat diets suffered the...

Gene variation affects tamoxifen's benefit for breast cancer

...sant drug Effexor does not. These drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRI's, are often used to treat hot flashes, a common side effect of tamoxifen. In this current study of 256 women with breast cancer, researchers also found that women with the CYP2D6 variant were less likely to have hot flas...

Worms know bad food when they smell it

...'I've gotten sick,'" Bargmann said. The role of serotonin suggests that this type of learning may be a parti...el, Bargmann said. In humans, the vast majority of serotonin is produced by cells in the intestine, where its release can generate nausea such as that associated...

Animal models show that anabolic steroids flip the adolescent brain's switch for aggression

...g other new findings, as yet unpublished, that the serotonin system ?implicated in depression ?may never recover. "If you hit the right areas of the brain at the right time, you make permanent changes," Melloni concludes from the converging evidence. He hopes that adolescents don't take the ultimate re...

Commonly used antidepressants may also affect human immune system

...at depression by manipulating the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may also affect the user's immune sys... the investigators found, for the first time, that serotonin is passed between key cells in the immune system, and that the chemical is specifically used to acti...

Aggression-related gene weakens brain's impulse control circuits

...s. Several previous studies had linked increased serotonin during development with violence and the L version.... In this study also, the gene version that boosts serotonin levels resulted in impaired emotion-related lower brain structures, increased fear hub activation an...

Forsyth scientists gain greater understanding of how embryos differentiate left from right

...hibition also abolished the normal localization of serotonin at the 16-cell stage, suggesting that it helps to regulate the early flow of this important neurotransmitter. These data implicate H+-V-ATPase activity in patterning the left right axis of three different vertebrates, reveal mechanisms both upstream ...

Team discovers possible 'universal strategy' to combat addiction

... mood. The team discovered that PTEN acts on these serotonin receptors, increasing brain cell activity. This is...d a molecule called a peptide, tailored to fit the serotonin receptors and block PTEN. When rats were treated with this PTEN-blocker, it shut down the drug rewar...

Alzheimer's study first to explain death of brain cells

...erials essential for proper brain function such as serotonin and L-DOPA. Dr. Atamna believes that the combination of functional heme deficiency, which harms mitochondria needed to produce energy, together with the increase in oxidative damage caused by the peroxidase, is what eventually kills the cell. "Unt...

Rice University researchers create 'nanorice'

...erials essential for proper brain function such as serotonin and L-DOPA. Dr. Atamna believes that the combination of functional heme deficiency, which harms mitochondria needed to produce energy, together with the increase in oxidative damage caused by the peroxidase, is what eventually kills the cell. "Unt...

Nobelist discovers antidepressant protein in mouse brain

...nxiety and depression, compensate for reduction in serotonin signaling by boosting levels and binding of serotonin to receptors. Previous studies have suggested that serotonin receptors are essential in regulating m...

Are dancers genetically different than the rest of us? Yes, says Hebrew University researcher

...ariants of two genes that provide the code for the serotonin transporter and arginine vasopressin receptor 1a. ...ansmission of information between nerve cells. The serotonin transporter regulates the level of serotonin, a brain transmitter that contributes to spiritual expe...

Ever-happy mice may hold key to new treatment of depression

.... TREK-1 is a gene that can affect transmission of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is known to play an important role in mood, sleep and sexuality. By breeding mice with an absence of TREK-1, researchers were able create a depression-resistant strain. The details of this research, which involved an internati...

Hopkins scientists show hallucinogen in mushrooms creates universal 'mystical' experience

...t alkaloid called psilocybin, mimics the effect of serotonin on brain receptors-as do some other hallucinogens-but precisely where in the brain and in what manner are unknown. An account of the study, accompanied by an editorial and four experts' commentaries, appears online today in the journal Psychopharma...

Serotonin, acting in a specific brain region, promotes sleep in fruit flies

...archers showed that pharmacological treatment with serotonin increases the amount, as well as the quality, of s...eep less or have fragmented sleep, suggesting that serotonin treatment can overcome some deficits caused by other sleep problems. The researchers also identified...

Ecstasy can harm the brains of first-time users

...targets neurons in the brain that use the chemical serotonin to communicate. Serotonin plays an important role in regulating a number of mental processes including mood and memory. Research has shown that long-term or heavy ecstasy use can damage these neurons and cause depression, anxiety, confusion, diff...

Patients can report statins' adverse effects on new web site

...effects of statin drugs on cognition, behavior and serotonin biochemistry. According to Golomb, among people who have contacted the UCSD Statin Study to report adverse effects, nearly 60% of patients reported muscle weakness or fatigue, and about half reported cognitive problems. "We believe it is important...

Adolescent but not adult hamsters are more aggressive on low dose of fluoxetine

...niles as in adults." Fluoxetine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), is the only medication ... that because adolescents may have lower levels of serotonin than adults, there may not be enough of it in their systems for the SSRI to work effectively. In ad...

Proteins necessary for brain development found to be critical for long-term memory

...the animals are shocked, a brain chemical known as serotonin is released that promotes the formation of a long-...th factors and the TrkB receptors, they found that serotonin alone was not enough to retain the long-term memory of the shock. While short-term memory was retain...

New brain-chemistry differences found in depressed women

... and those involved in noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin production. "Further research on these differences, and their relationship to patients' responses to various depression treatments, is crucial to the continued improvement in the understanding of depression and the development of better treatment...

Gene linked with mental illness shapes brain region, researchers find

...rve cells release serotonin, a molecule called the serotonin transporter (SERT) brings it back into the cell. Thus, serotonin has only a brief influence on the target neurons. Drugs that prevent this re-uptake, such as Prozac,...

Low levels of neurotransmitter serotonin may perpetuate child abuse across generations

...hat transmits impulses in the brain. Low levels of serotonin are associated with anxiety and depression and imp... who became abusive mothers in adulthood had lower serotonin in their brains than abused females who did not become abusive parents, the research showed. Beca...

A potential biological cause for sudden infant death syndrome

... infants who have abnormalities in their brainstem serotonin system. The brainstem serotonin system is thought to help coordinate breathing, blood pressure, sensitivity to carbon dioxide, and t...

Gene variations contribute to aggression and anger in women

...gression may be genetic, rooted in variations in a serotonin receptor gene. Indrani Halder, Ph.D., of the Cardi...y. Previous studies have associated the hormone serotonin with anger and aggression in both humans and animals and have shown that increased serotonin activit...