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Serotonin research: contributions to understanding psychoses.
Mark A Geyer1, Franz X Vollenweider
1Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Diego, Room B-418 Clinical Teaching Facility, 212 W. Dickinson Street, San Diego, CA 92103, USA. mgeyer@ucsd.edu
Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
|December 17, 2008
Summary
Serotonin research, linked to hallucinogens like LSD, explores its role in psychosis and schizophrenia. Modern science investigates how serotonin systems interact with others to affect consciousness and psychotic disorders.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Pharmacology
Background:
- The study of serotonin's role in psychosis is historically linked to hallucinogenic drugs acting on serotonin-2A receptors.
- Early discoveries of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, and serotonin suggested a connection to psychotic states in disorders like schizophrenia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the serotonergic hallucinogen model of psychosis.
- To examine the relationship between this model and the serotonin hypothesis of schizophrenia.
- To understand the interaction of serotonergic systems with other neurotransmitter systems in psychosis.
Main Methods:
- Review of historical and modern scientific literature.
- Integration of findings from biochemical, pharmacological, behavioral, neuroimaging, genetic, and molecular biological studies.
- Assessment of the serotonergic hallucinogen model of psychosis.
Main Results:
- Sixty years of research confirm a significant relationship between serotonin and both drug-induced and disorder-based psychotic states.
- Modern sciences are converging to elucidate the complex interactions of serotonergic systems with monoaminergic and glutamatergic systems.
- The serotonergic system plays a crucial role in modulating consciousness and contributing to psychotic disorders.
Conclusions:
- The serotonin hypothesis of schizophrenia is supported by research on the serotonergic hallucinogen model of psychosis.
- Understanding these complex neurochemical interactions is key to advancing treatments for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
- Continued interdisciplinary research is essential for a comprehensive understanding of serotonin's role in psychosis.
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