Higher-End Serotonin Receptors: 5-HT_5, 5-HT_6, and 5-HT_7

摘要

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT; 1) is a major neurotransmitter that is believed to produce many of its effects via interaction at seven populations of 5-HT receptors, 5-HT_5 to 5-HT_7, and the serotonin transporter (SERT). Serotonin was discovered in the late 1940s, and the first 5-HT receptors were identified in the periphery shortly thereafter. It was in the 1970s that 5-HT binding sites were definitively identified in the brain, and in 1979 two populations of receptors, 5-HT_1 and 5-HT_2 receptors, were proposed (reviewed in ref 1). Over the ensuing decade or so, by use of techniques such as radioligand binding to brain homogenates, autoradiography, and molecular biology, seven families of 5-HT receptors were described. Some families consist of multiple subpopulations, excluding splice variants and species homologues, and at least 14 different types of 5-HT receptors have been reported.