Serotonin Receptor Subtypes: Exploiting their Therapeutic Potential

Abstract

Soon it will be the 50th anniversary of the isolation, identification and chemical synthesis of serotonin (5-hydroxy tryptamine, 5-HT). Since the discovery of this mediator, 5-HT has been the object of a large amount of work and speculation. An important drug of the serotoninergic family, LSD, was also discovered more than 50 years ago. In recent years, interest in serotonin and serotoninergic mechanisms has increased significantly as a consequence of the development in this area of many compounds with therapeutic utility. Drugs such as the gastrokinetic cinitapride, clebopride or cisapride, new anxiolytics such as buspirone, or the treatments for chemotherapy-induced vomiting such as ondansetron, ganisetron and tropisetron, the recently developed antimigraine compounds such as sumatriptan, or new antidepressants such as prozac, all share as a common denominator their interaction with serotoninergic mechanisms, either at the level of the receptors or the transporter. The purpose of this article is to assess recent advances in the understanding of serotonin receptors on the development of new compounds with therapeutic utility.