Raloxifene blocks estradiol induction of the serotonin transporter and 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptor in female rat brain

Abstract

Sex steroids have potent effects on mood, mental state and cognition. Our previous findings and those of others suggest that these effects may be due at least in part to estradiol actions on central serotonergic mechanisms. Specifically, estradiol-17β in its acute positive feedback mode for gonadotropin release in the female rat induces expression of the genes for the 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptor (5-HT2AR) and the serotonin transporter (SERT) in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). This is accompanied by an increase in the densities of 5-HT2AR and the SERT in forebrain regions which in the human are concerned with the control of mood, mental state, cognition and emotion. Here we report that ral..