Paradoxical role of Serotonin in Depression

Waslander, J. (2015) Paradoxical role of Serotonin in Depression. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.

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Abstract

For decades, researchers have tried to clarify the paradoxical role of serotonin in depression and antidepressant drug effects. Early theories of depression mainly focused on the role of the serotonergic system and explained part of the behavioral pathology in depression and the action of antidepressants by elucidating processes like 5-HT1A somatodendritic autoreceptor desensitization. However, it soon became clear that an impaired serotonergic system could not fully explain behavioral, molecular and morphological aspects of depression and antidepressant drug effects. Acting via glutamate and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neuroplasticity proved to be a likely candidate involved in depression and the positive consequences of antidepressant drug treatments. Although serotonin-BDNF and serotonin-glutamate dualistic interactions are coined as causal relationships in the ontogeny of mood disorders, combining these three parts provides a model that is able to better resolve the paradoxical role of serotonin in depression. In this hypothetical model, serotonin and the activity of serotonergic neurons may act as a regulator of the glutamatergic transmission, which induces BDNF transcription, and will eventually lead to neuroplastic changes that can contribute to both the development of depression as well as the recovery after treatment with antidepressant drugs.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Degree programme:	Biology
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2018 08:04
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2018 08:04
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/12791

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