Before the identification of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), it was known that when blood is allowed to clot, a vasoconstrictor (tonic) substance is released from the clot into the serum. This substance was called serotonin. Independent studies established the existence of a smooth muscle stimulant in intestinal mucosa. This was called enteramine. The synthesis of 5-hydroxytryptamine in 1951 led to the identification of serotonin and enteramine as the same metabolite of 5-hydroxytryptophan.
Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter, a local hormone in the gut, a component of the platelet clotting process, and is thought to play a role in migraine headache and several other clinical conditions, including carcinoid syndrome. This syndrome is an unusual manifestation of carcinoid tumor, a neoplasm of enterochromaffin cells. In patients whose tumor is not surgically resectable, a serotonin antagonist may constitute a useful treatment.
Like histamine, serotonin is widely distributed in nature, being found in plant and animal tissues, venoms, and stings. It is synthesized in biologic systems from the amino acid l-tryptophan
CHAPTER 16 Histamine, Serotonin, & the Ergot Alkaloids 285
FIGURE 16–2 Synthesis of serotonin and melatonin from L-tryptophan.
by hydroxylation of the indole ring followed by decarboxylation of the amino acid (Figure 16–2). Hydroxylation at C5 by tryptophan hydroxylase-1 is the rate-limiting step and can be blocked by p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA; fenclonine) and by p-chloroamphetamine. These agents have been used experimentally to reduce serotonin synthesis in carcinoid syndrome but are too toxic for general clinical use. Telotristat ethyl, an orally active hydroxylase inhibitor, has been approved for the treatment of diarrhea due to carcinoid tumor.
After synthesis, the free amine is stored in vesicles or is rapidly inactivated, usually by oxidation by monoamine oxidase (MAO). In the pineal gland, serotonin serves as a precursor of melatonin, a melanocyte-stimulating hormone that has complex effects in several tissues. In mammals (including humans), over 90% of the serotonin in the body is found in enterochromaffin cells in the gastrointestinal tract. In the blood, serotonin is found in platelets, which are able to concentrate the amine by means of an active serotonin transporter mechanism (SERT) similar to that in the membrane of serotonergic nerve endings. Once transported into the platelet or nerve ending, 5-HT is concentrated in vesicles by a vesicle-associated transporter (VAT) that is blocked by reserpine. Serotonin is also found in the raphe nuclei of the brainstem, which contain cell bodies of serotonergic neurons that synthesize, store, and release serotonin as a transmitter. Stored serotonin can be depleted by reserpine in much the same manner as this drug depletes catecholamines from vesicles in adrenergic nerves and the adrenal medulla (see Chapter 6).
Brain serotonergic neurons are involved in numerous diffuse functions such as mood, sleep, appetite, and temperature regulation, as well as the perception of pain, the regulation of blood pressure, and vomiting (see Chapter 21). Serotonin is clearly involved in psychiatric depression (see Chapter 30) and also appears to be involved in conditions such as anxiety and migraine. Serotonergic neurons are found in the enteric nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract and around blood vessels. In rodents (but not in humans), serotonin is also found in mast cells.