The Role of Serotonin in Brain Function In addition to depression, serotonin may play a role in other brain and mental health disorders, including anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), phobias, and even epilepsy.
Excessive accumulation of serotonin in the body creates the symptoms of serotonin syndrome. Typically, nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord produce serotonin that helps regulate attention, behavior and body temperature. Other nerve cells in the body, primarily in the intestines, also produce serotonin.
Your body makes serotonin to help your brain cells and other nervous system cells communicate with each other. Researchers think a lack of serotonin in your brain may play a role in depression. But too much of it can lead to extreme nerve cell activity and dangerous symptoms.
Some people have a mutation in the gene that controls this process, the MTHFR gene. This leads to a tendency to overproduce serotonin, causing an excess amount in the brain. People with this gene usually have high blood levels of copper and low levels of zinc as well.
Serotonin syndrome occurs when someone has an excess of the neurotransmitter serotonin in their nervous system. The condition's symptoms generally fall into three categories: Altered mental status (irritability, agitation, restlessness, and anxiety)
Tenuous ties between serotonin and autism first surfaced decades ago. In 1961, a study of 23 autistic people reported that 6 of them had an unusually high level of serotonin in their blood. Since then, researchers have consistently found that about one in four people on the spectrum has high blood serotonin.
On the transmitter level, aggression has frequently been associated with alterations of serotonergic neural activity (Duke et al., 2013). Pharmacological serotonin challenges have been reported to influence both PFC-amygdala connectivity and aggressive feelings (Klasen et al., 2013).
The happiness neurotransmitter
In reaction to this shift, the brain creates more receptors to handle all the excess fear neurotransmitters, and reduces the amount of serotonin receptors, which it deems less necessary. As a result, you become more prone to feeling anxious than to feeling relaxed.
The serotonin syndrome is a medication-induced condition resulting from serotonergic hyperactivity, usually involving antidepressant medications. As the number of patients experiencing medically-treated major depressive disorder increases, so does the population at risk for experiencing serotonin syndrome.
People who have high serotonin activity (or who take SSRI antidepressants) are more sociable, more eager to belong. They're quite traditional in their values and less inclined toward exploration.
The hypothesis suggests that chronic deficiency in the available 5-HT level may contribute to the clinical symptoms of ADHD (Quist and Kennedy, 2001). Oades et al. (2008) have reported that in ADHD patients there is a 25% reduction in binding capacity of serotonin transporter (SLC6A4, SERT, 5-HTT).
In both primates and humans, serotonin function tends to covary positively with prosocial behaviors such as grooming, cooperation, and affiliation, and tends to covary negatively with antisocial behaviors such as aggression and social isolation.
Relationship between Serotonin and Schizophrenia
Symptoms such mood swings, aggression issues, and diminished attention levels are all associated with serotonin levels in the brain. Arguably, the use of serotonergic medication can have an effect on the psychopathology of schizophrenia.
Patients with some anxiety disorders, including social anxiety, have been found to have higher, not lower, levels of serotonin. Some patients experience a temporary increase in anxiety when they begin SSRI and SNRI medications and serotonin levels go up.
Certain drugs and substances such as caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, NutraSweet, antidepressants, and some cholesterol-lowering medications deplete serotonin and other neurotransmitter levels. Hormone changes cause low levels of serotonin and neurotransmitter imbalances.
This increase in serotonin can happen if you: Take more than one medication that affects serotonin levels. Recently started on a medication or increased the dose of a medication known to increase serotonin levels. Take too much of one serotonin-related medication, accidentally or on purpose.
Dopamine
Numerous studies have suggested that ASD could be linked to dopaminergic dysfunction and have hypothesized that dopamine imbalances in specific brain regions could lead to autistic behaviors [71].
The serotonin test measures the level of serotonin in the blood. Blood is drawn from a vein (venipuncture), usually from the inside of the elbow or the back of the hand. A needle is inserted into the vein, and the blood is collected in an air-tight vial or a syringe. Preparation may vary depending on the specific test.
5-HT, serotonin; MAOI, monoamine oxidase inhibitor; SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The behavioral and neuropsychological processes modulated by serotonin include mood, perception, reward, anger, aggression, appetite, memory, sexuality, and attention, among others.
Serotonin, a monoamine neurotransmitter, contributes to the formation of social hierarchy and positively affects dominance in humans and other primates.
Accordingly, the elevated cortisol induced by stress increases serotonin uptake, under both rest and nerve stimulation, which is overtly expressed in symptoms of depression.
ADHD brains have low levels of a neurotransmitter called norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is linked arm-in-arm with dopamine. Dopamine is the thing that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure center.
People with ADHD have at least one defective gene, the DRD2 gene that makes it difficult for neurons to respond to dopamine, the neurotransmitter that is involved in feelings of pleasure and the regulation of attention.