Serotonin-induced short- and long-term sensitization in the crab Chasmagnathus

On sudden presentation of a passing shadow (a visual danger stimulus), the crab Chasmagnathus granulatus responds with a running reaction that we term an escape response (ER). A single administration of 5-HT in a dose range between 0.005 and 0.1 microgram/g enhances the ER at 30 min, and a dose of 10-15 micrograms/g has a similar effect for at least 24 h. The classical 5-HT antagonist cyproheptadine (CYP) given within a dose range 0.01-2.0 micrograms/g has no effect on ER at 30 min, but 0.5 microgram/g blocks the 5-HT-induced short-term sensitization. An enhancing effect of CYP on the ER is shown at 24 h with 1.0-2.0 micrograms/g doses. An explanation of this results in terms of a model similar to that proposed for Aplysia, that is two sensitizing processes linked in parallel and mediated by two different types of 5-HT receptors is discussed. Results indicate that the sensitizing effect of 5-HT is confined to high responders, thus suggesting that crabs of a same population have different degrees of sensitivity to the drug according to their different degrees of reactivity to the visual danger stimulus.