University Department of Pharmacology, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3QT, UK.
Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2011 Feb;11(1):45-51. doi: 10.1016/j.coph.2011.02.003. Epub 2011 Mar 4.
Mood disorders such as major depression are common illnesses with considerable morbidity and significant mortality. A long-standing theory is that a breakdown in brain serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) signalling is critically involved in the symptoms and drug treatment of clinical depression. However, the nature of this 5-HT defect has proved to be frustratingly elusive, and it remains unclear how the 5-HT signalling effects of antidepressant drugs might alter neuropsychological mechanisms to bring about relief of depressed mood. This article highlights recent discoveries that advance our understanding of how 5-HT-evoked changes at molecular, cellular and neuropsychological levels might interact to alleviate the symptoms of clinical depression.
心境障碍，如重度抑郁症，是常见的疾病，具有相当高的发病率和显著的死亡率。一个长期存在的理论是，大脑血清素（5-羟色胺；5-HT）信号的崩溃与临床抑郁症的症状和药物治疗密切相关。然而，这种 5-HT 缺陷的性质被证明是令人沮丧地难以捉摸的，目前仍不清楚抗抑郁药物的 5-HT 信号作用如何改变神经心理学机制来缓解抑郁情绪。本文重点介绍了最近的发现，这些发现增进了我们对 5-HT 在分子、细胞和神经心理学水平上引起的变化如何相互作用以缓解临床抑郁症症状的理解。
