Astrocytic 5-HT(2B) receptor as in vitro and in vivo target of SSRIs

Most studies in this journal describe recent patents. The present study only has one such reference. Instead, we hope that its contents will trigger investigation of antidepressant drugs along the suggested lines and lead to ensuing patent applications - first and foremost by more focus on astrocytes. Clinical research has already pointed towards the importance of these cells, which account for one quarter of brain cortical volume and at least as much of its oxidative metabolism. Astrocytes express a multitude of receptors, including 5-HT(2B) receptors. In cultured astrocytes acute treatment with any of the five SSRIs, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, sertraline, paroxetine, and citalopram, stimulates equipotently and with sufficient affinity to be therapeutically relevant, the 5-HT(2B) receptor. Following EGF receptor transactivation and a resultant autocrine HB-EGF stimulation, these drugs activate two interdependent signal pathways i) the Ras-Raf-Mek-ERK phosphorylation pathway and ii) the PI3K-AKT-GSK-3β pathway, eventually altering gene expression. Chronic treatment with fluoxetine upregulates gene expression of cPLA₂, ADAR2, GluK2 and 5-HT(2B) receptors, and RNA editing of the later two in cultured astrocytes and in astrocytes obtained by fluorescence-activated cell sorting of cells from fluoxetinetreated mice. Chronic treatment also down-regulates the Gq-protein-coupled receptor-induced increase of intracellular Ca²⁺ by inhibiting TRPC function, compromising astrocytic Ca²⁺ re-filling. This affects glycogenolysis and several steps in the signal pathways. Since astrocytes in the mature brain and in our cultures do not express SERT, both acute and chronic effects in cultured astrocytes must be directly mediated by 5-HT(2B) receptor activation.