Somatostatin interneurons activated by 5-HT2A receptor suppress slow oscillations in medial entorhinal cortex
bioRxiv Preprint Server May 26, 2020 Roberto De Filippo, Benjamin R. Rost, Alexander Stumpf et al. 1 citation preprint
Serotonin (5-HT) is a key neuromodulator in the mammalian brain, but how it affects synchronized cortical network activity is not fully understood. This work shows that MDMA and fenfluramine, two drugs that release 5-HT, inhibit slow oscillations—a default cortical activity pattern—in the entorhinal cortex of anesthetized mice. The suppression occurs through activation of somatostatin-expressing interneurons via the 5-HT2A receptor. Because 5-HT2A receptor signaling is implicated in psychiatric disorders and mediates effects of serotonergic drugs, this link between these interneurons and serotonin may help clarify these complex topics.