Serotonin research: contributions to understanding psychoses
Trends in Pharmacological Sciences August 1, 2008 M Geyer, F Vollenweider 435 citations
The history of serotonin research is closely tied to hallucinogenic drugs that activate serotonin-2A receptors. Early discoveries of LSD, psilocybin, and serotonin led to the idea that psychotic states in disorders like schizophrenia may involve abnormalities in serotonin systems. Sixty years of study have confirmed a significant relationship between serotonin and both drug-induced and disorder-based psychotic states. Modern biochemical, pharmacological, behavioral, neuroimaging, genetic, and molecular biological sciences are converging to understand how serotonin systems interact with other monoaminergic and glutamatergic systems to modulate consciousness and contribute to psychotic disorders like schizophrenia. This review summarizes experimental assessments of the serotonergic hallucinogen model psychosis in relation to the serotonin hypothesis of schizophrenia.