Dubovsky S L
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver.
J Clin Psychiatry. 1994 Feb;55 Suppl:34-44.
Serotonin (5-HT) is a neurotransmitter involved in the regulation of mood, arousal, aggression, sleep, learning, nociceptions, nerve growth, and appetitive functions. Medications that act on 5-HT and its receptors have applications in the treatment of a variety of psychiatric disorders, among them depression, anxiety, psychoses, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and conditions associated with aggression. The clinical effects of these medications depend not only on their capacity to increase synaptic concentrations of 5-HT, but also on their effects on subtypes of 5-HT receptors and on other neurotransmitter systems. A new generation of drugs acting on specific 5-HT receptors has the advantage of a low frequency of adverse effects, applicability in mixed and complicated syndromes, and usefulness as probes of the psychobiology of mental disorders. An understanding of the specific actions of these medications on cellular communication and signaling makes it easier to predict their applications and disadvantages in specific clinical syndromes. The diverse applications of this new generation of drugs suggest a reconceptualization of the categorical approach to diagnosis and the addition of a more dimensional approach, at least to psychopharmacology.
血清素（5-羟色胺，5-HT）是一种神经递质，参与情绪、觉醒、攻击行为、睡眠、学习、痛觉感受、神经生长及食欲功能的调节。作用于5-HT及其受体的药物在多种精神障碍的治疗中具有应用价值，其中包括抑郁症、焦虑症、精神病、饮食失调、强迫症、躯体变形障碍、创伤后应激障碍以及与攻击行为相关的病症。这些药物的临床效果不仅取决于其增加5-HT突触浓度的能力，还取决于它们对5-HT受体亚型及其他神经递质系统的影响。新一代作用于特定5-HT受体的药物具有不良反应发生率低、适用于混合及复杂综合征以及可作为精神障碍心理生物学研究探针的优势。了解这些药物对细胞通讯和信号传导的具体作用有助于更轻松地预测它们在特定临床综合征中的应用及不足之处。新一代药物的多样应用表明，至少在精神药理学方面，需要重新审视诊断的分类方法，并增加一种更具维度的方法。
