Serotonin: its place today in sleep preparation, triggering or maintenance

Serotonin (5-HT) is involved in sleep in two different ways. Firstly, when released during waking by the axonal nerve endings, it influences the synthesis of hypnogenic substances in specific brain targets. Such a synthesis might be in keeping with the waking qualitative aspects. As an example, the hypnogenic CLIP peptide (ACTH18-39) is synthesized when stressful events occur during wakefulness. Secondly, when released during sleep within the nucleus raphe dorsalis (nRD) by dendrites of 5-HT neurons, it contributes to 5-HT perikarya silencing through an auto-inhibitory process.
Source: Sleep Medicine - Category: Sleep Medicine Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research