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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
serotonin
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
reuptake
▪ The other argument for prescribing serotonin reuptake inhibitors has been their reported lower toxicity in overdose compared with some antidepressants.
▪ However, disagreement exists about the role of serotonin reuptake inhibitors in treating major depression.
▪ We reviewed the evidence for the efficacy and acceptability of serotonin reuptake inhibitors compared with the tricyclic and related antidepressants by meta-analysis.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Another line of research linking alcohol and serotonin involves rats bred for their avid preference for alcohol.
▪ Another theory suggests that estrogen levels, which increase after ovulation, inhibit the release of serotonin in the brain.
▪ In the long term production of serotonin is reduced, leading to depression most suicides have low serotonin levels.
▪ One hypothesis: the former group may like alcohol so much because it helps compensate for their genetically faulty serotonin machinery.
▪ Studies in animals that live in hierarchies have shown that secretion of serotonin responds to changes in status.
▪ Successful human students have high serotonin levels; people of low status tend to have low serotonin levels.
▪ These deliver serotonin to wide areas of the brain and spinal cord.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
serotonin

neurotransmitting chemical, 1948, coined from sero-, comb. form of serum (q.v.) + ton(ic) + chemical suffix -in (2).

Wiktionary
serotonin

n. (context neurotransmitter English) An indoleamine neurotransmitter, 5-hydroxytryptamine, that is involved in depression, appetite, etc., and is crucial in maintaining a sense of well-being, security, etc.

WordNet
serotonin

n. a neurotransmitter involved in e.g. sleep and depression and memory [syn: 5-hydroxytryptamine]

Wikipedia
Serotonin

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract (GI tract), blood platelets, and the central nervous system (CNS) of animals, including humans. It is popularly thought to be a contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness.

Approximately 90% of the human body's total serotonin is located in the enterochromaffin cells in the GI tract, where it is used to regulate intestinal movements. The serotonin is secreted luminally and basolaterally which leads to increased serotonin uptake by circulating platelets and activation after stimulation, which gives increased stimulation of myenteric neurons and gastrointestinal motility. The remainder is synthesized in serotonergic neurons of the CNS, where it has various functions. These include the regulation of mood, appetite, and sleep. Serotonin also has some cognitive functions, including memory and learning. Modulation of serotonin at synapses is thought to be a major action of several classes of pharmacological antidepressants.

Serotonin secreted from the enterochromaffin cells eventually finds its way out of tissues into the blood. There, it is actively taken up by blood platelets, which store it. When the platelets bind to a clot, they release serotonin, where it serves as a vasoconstrictor and helps to regulate hemostasis and blood clotting. Serotonin also is a growth factor for some types of cells, which may give it a role in wound healing. There are various serotonin receptors.

Serotonin is metabolized mainly to 5-HIAA, chiefly by the liver. Metabolism involves first oxidation by monoamine oxidase to the corresponding aldehyde. This is followed by oxidation by aldehyde dehydrogenase to 5-HIAA, the indole acetic acid derivative. The latter is then excreted by the kidneys. One type of tumor, called carcinoid, sometimes secretes large amounts of serotonin into the blood, which causes various forms of the carcinoid syndrome of flushing (serotonin itself does not cause flushing). Potential causes of flushing in carcinoid syndrome include bradykinins, prostaglandins, tachykinins, substance P, and/or histamine, diarrhea, and heart problems. Because of serotonin's growth-promoting effect on cardiac myocytes, a serotonin-secreting carcinoid tumour may cause a tricuspid valve disease syndrome, due to the proliferation of myocytes onto the valve.

In addition to animals, serotonin is found in fungi and plants. Serotonin's presence in insect venoms and plant spines serves to cause pain, which is a side-effect of serotonin injection. Serotonin is produced by pathogenic amoebae, and its effect on the gut causes diarrhea. Its widespread presence in many seeds and fruits may serve to stimulate the digestive tract into expelling the seeds.

Serotonin (disambiguation)

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter.

Serotonin may also refer to:

  • Serotonin, the professional wrestling stable
  • Serotonin (album), the 3rd album from British band The Mystery Jets
Serotonin (album)

Serotonin is the fourth album by Mystery Jets, released in the UK on 5 July 2010. The album is produced by Chris Thomas.

Usage examples of "serotonin".

Carbohydrates raise the level of the amino acid tryptophan in the bloodstream, which the brain uses to synthesize serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with sleep, analgesia, calm, and even the lifting of depression.

The ultrasonics produced by the tactile pigments operated directly on the hypothalamus, promoting sudden changes in serotonin concentrations and levels.

No physiological abnormalities were found, but there was no serotonin in his brain at all, no beta-endorphin, and no trace of another substance, an enzyme called mono amine oxidase.

By the mid-1970s, they had shown that during habituation in the isolated ganglion there was a steady decrease in the amount of serotonin released from the sensory presynaptic terminal, without there being any change in the responsiveness of the postsynaptic serotonin receptors.

The possibility that serotonin in excess produces schizophrenia is greatly weakened, nevertheless, by the fact that a compound very closely related to lysergic acid diethylamide interferes with serotonin oxidation even more and yet produces no hallucinations.

They contain monounsaturated fats to keep your arteries clear, as well as levels years of precursors of serotonin to boost mood.

Serotonin, phenylethylamine and oxytocin which is the one responsible for the bonding between a mother and her baby.

Over the years, he helped Rachel handle a notoriously difficult boss and steered her toward research on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors before anyone had heard of Prozac.

Researchers tell us that Prozac or one of the other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can increase the amount of serotonin in our brains, and we may feel better.

State-of-the-art Khumalo combat biotech runs some charming custom extras, notable among them a serotonin shutout system that improves your capacity for mindless violence and minute scrapings of wolf gene that give you added speed and savagery together with an enhanced tendency to pack loyalty that hurts like upwelling tears.

Wolf gene pack dynamics, serotonin shutout and Envoy psychosis to pilot the whole fucking shambles.

At the same time it was necessary to speculate as to how transient changes in neurotransmitters such as serotonin, or the flow of calcium ions across the synaptic membrane, might in turn trigger the specific synthesis of the new proteins that long-term memory demanded.

The ultrasonics produced by the tactile pigments operated directly on the hypothalamus, promoting sudden changes in serotonin concentrations and levels.

They’ve been treating it as they would catatonia, or schizophrenia—giving them a serotonin dopamine complex, limbic stimulants .

One part of it would be a drug cocktail, a mixture of protein-synthesis enhancers, including even amphetamines and chemical relatives of strychnine, and then transmitters like serotonin, glutamate receptor sensitizers, cholinesterase, cyclic AMP, and so on.