Summary
5-Hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) can evoke both contraction and relaxation of vascular smooth muscle. In disease, the constrictor component of the response to the monoamine appears to dominate. 5HT2-serotonergicantagonists favor dilatation, not only because they block the activating effect of serotonin on vascular smooth muscle, but also because they unmask the (endothelium-dependent) relaxation to the monoamine and brake the amplifying effect that it exerts on platelet aggregation. These properties of serotonergic antagonists help to explain their protective effects in vascular disease.
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Vanhoutte, P.M. Serotonergic antagonists and vascular disease. Cardiovasc Drug Ther 4, 7–12 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00053420
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00053420