Identified how the happiness molecule works

Sanihelp.it – A team of researchers has succeeded in reconstructing the phases of the mechanism of functioning of serotonin, the so-called happiness molecule, at the level of the neuronal circuits of the ganglia of the base, in particular of the thalamo-striated circuit. These circuits are important for movement control and behavioral flexibility, that is, the ability to adapt to contextual changes from an emotional and motor point of view and do not work. correctly in diseases such as Parkinson's disease or obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The research of the Italian Institute of Technology, with the collaboration of the Department of Biology of the University of Pisa and an international partnership of research institutions, including the Sorbonne University in Paris, tries to reconstruct the molecular mechanisms with which serotonin acts in the brain: it is also important to understand what happens in the pathological conditions in which serotonin is not produced or in which the specific receptors to which they are are related are absent.

Using advanced experimental approaches, including optogenetics and chemogenetics, for turning on and off and neurons by light or activation of genetically modified proteins. By manipulating serotonin levels, researchers were able to define for the first time the mechanism of action of a specific receptor, the 5-HT4 receptor, and the type of neuronal connections that modulates it. This mechanism of action seems to depend on the location of this receptor in specific regions of the neuron

This has been possible thanks to the possibility of generating in laboratory animal models in which the activity of a specific neuronal population, in this case that of the neurons that produce serotonin, can be modulated remotely to verify in real time the consequences of the reduction of serotonin release in the striatum

Serotonin is a neuromodulator known to date having function in r to exalt the mood, appetite and other functions related to the emotional aspect. The team has demonstrated that communication between thalamus and striatum neurons is reduced if it occurs in the absence of serotonin. Ongoing studies suggest that by blocking the action of the 5-HT4 receptor, the ability to adapt to a new situation, by changing the strategy of action, is slower.

This study thus lays the foundation for understanding diseases such as depression, in which the 5-HT4 serotonin receptor is not produced in normal amounts, corroborating recent neuropsychiatric theories that would show in depressed patients a inability to adapt to changes imposed by the environment

] SOURCE – CONFLICT OF INTERESTS :
University of Pisa

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