Erowid References Database
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Sloviter RS.
“Serotonin Neuropharmacology: Behavior and Hippocampal Electrophysiology”.
Dissertation Abstr.Intern.B. 1979;39(8):3792-93.
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Abstract
The neuropharmacology of 5-HT was studied. Results of behavioral studies indicated that pharmacological activation of 5-HT receptors causes a highly characteristic behavioral syndrome in the rat. Studies on the specificity of this behavioral syndrome indicated that catecholamines play no significant role in the initiation or expression of these behavioral signs. Consequently, this syndrome was used as a model to study the degree to which a number of psychoactive drugs interact with central 5-HT receptors. Results suggested that levodopa activates 5-HT receptors by serving as a precursor for dopamine which, in turn, displaces endogenous 5-HT. Amphetamine, causes 5-HT receptor activation at high doses, by an action on presynaptic 5HT stores. LSD and 5-methexy-N,N-dimethyltryptaine, both potent hallucinogenic compounds, evoke this behavioral syndrome by a direct agonist action on 5-HT receptors. Administration of p-chlorophenylalanine (pCPA) stimulates 5-HT receptors. This response is apparently due to the action of p-chlorophenylethylamine (pCPEA). pCPEA displaces endogenous 5-HT from presynaptic terminals, as does amphetamine. Stimulation of central 5-HT receptors in the brain may be a causative factor in drug-induced hallucinations and psychosis. Electrical stimulation of 5-HT containing neurons in the midbrain increases the normal excitation of hippocampal granule cells by coincident cortical stimulation. A 5-HT receptor agonist mimicked and a 5-HT receptor blocker partially prevented the effects of electrical stimulation.
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