SCIENCE@home

The Serotonergic System and Neuroplasticity are Implicated in the Effect of Phytochemicals on Mood and Cognitive Disorders

Ying Xu,Chong Zhang,William O. Ogle

Published 2012 in Unknown venue

ABSTRACT

Studies has been established in the 1930s that any environmental changes, whether internal or external, that disturbs the maintenance of homeostasis can cause stress response, including psychological, neuronal, endocrine and immune system reactivity (B E Leonard, 2005). During chronic stress or long-term exposure to external stress, glucocorticosteroids induce the hyperactivity of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which produces an increase in plasma glucocorticoid level that then impairs the negative feedback mechanism, causing psychological disorders (Croes, Merz, & Netter, 1993; Henry, 1992). In stress-induced emotional and cognitive disorders, such as depression, anxiety and learning and memory impairment, the serotonergic system mainly exerts its regulatory functions through different subtypes of receptors. Research over the past decades have found that serotonin receptors, such as 5-HT1A, 5-HT1B, 5-HT2A, 5-HT2C, 5-HT4, 5-HT6, and 5-HT7 subtypes, are closely related to depression and memory deficits. Moreover, clinical investigation suggests that some of the agonists or antagonists of the 5-HT receptor subtypes can be used for treatment of depression. However, the detailed roles of serotonin receptors in these disorders remain unclear. Neuroplasticity has been described as the ability of the brain to reorganize itself and form new neuronal connections throughout life. Depression is associated with a neuronal loss in specific brain regions, which has been proven by functional brain imaging and other neurobiological techniques. The dendritic abnormalities seen in the hippocampus in animal models of depression and in patients with depression and Alzheimer’s suggest changes in hippocampal circuitry are involved in disorders involving depression, anxiety and learning and memory impairment. The morphological and functional changes of neurons may be reversed after treatment with antidepressants, such as some natural compounds. In this review, a connection between neuroplasticity and the antidepressant-like effects of phytochemicals that are currently being studied is brought into attention. Some phytochemicals, such as curcumin, are found to reverse impaired hippocampal

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2012

  • Venue

    Unknown venue

  • Publication date

    2012-01-18

  • Fields of study

    Medicine, Environmental Science, Psychology

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.5772/26579
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

CITATION MAP

EXTRACTION MAP

CLAIMS

  • No claims are published for this paper.

CONCEPTS

  • No concepts are published for this paper.

REFERENCES

Showing 1-100 of 101 references · Page 1 of 2

12
Next

CITED BY