Effects of serotonin on neurite outgrowth from thalamic neurons in vitro

• Published in: Neuroscience 1999-05, Vol.90 (3), p.967-974
• Main Authors: Lieske, V., Bennett-Clarke, C.A., Rhoades, R.W.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5-HT 1B receptor; 5-HT transporter; Animals; Animals, Newborn - physiology; barrel; Biological and medical sciences; Development. Senescence. Regeneration. Transplantation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Neurites - drug effects; Neurites - physiology; Neurons - drug effects; Neurons - physiology; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reference Values; serotonin; Serotonin - pharmacology; thalamocortical axon; Thalamus - cytology; Thalamus - drug effects; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
• ISSN: 0306-4522; 1873-7544
• DOI: 10.1016/S0306-4522(98)00501-6

Altering levels of serotonin in the primary somatosensory cortex during early postnatal life influences thalamocortical development. Recent in vivo experiments suggest that serotonin may have direct effects on the growth of thalamocortical axons, and the present study was undertaken to determine whether this amine influences process outgrowth from thalamic cells maintained in culture. Ventrobasal thalamic neurons were harvested from newborn rats and maintained in culture for eight days. At the end of this period, 0, 10, 25, 50 or 100 μM serotonin was added to the culture medium. After an additional six days, cultures were fixed and stained with neuron-specific enolase. Quantitative analysis of >500 cells from each condition indicated that 25 μM serotonin, but not the other concentrations of this amine, significantly increased the length of the primary (longest) process growing out from the cell body ( P