Mice Lacking Serotonin 2C Receptors Have increased Affective Responses to Aversive Stimuli
Although central serotonergic systems are known to influence responses to noxious stimuli, mechanisms underlying serotonergic modulation of pain responses are unclear. We proposed that serotonin 2C receptors (5-HT2CRs), which are expressed within brain regions implicated in sensory and affective res...
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Published in | PloS one Vol. 10; no. 12; p. e0142906 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
02.12.2015
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Although central serotonergic systems are known to influence responses to noxious stimuli, mechanisms underlying serotonergic modulation of pain responses are unclear. We proposed that serotonin 2C receptors (5-HT2CRs), which are expressed within brain regions implicated in sensory and affective responses to pain, contribute to the serotonergic modulation of pain responses. In mice constitutively lacking 5-HT2CRs (2CKO mice) we found normal baseline sensory responses to noxious thermal, mechanical and chemical stimuli. In contrast, 2CKO mice exhibited a selective enhancement of affect-related ultrasonic afterdischarge vocalizations in response to footshock. Enhanced affect-related responses to noxious stimuli were also exhibited by 2CKO mice in a fear-sensitized startle assay. The extent to which a brief series of unconditioned footshocks produced enhancement of acoustic startle responses was markedly increased in 2CKO mice. As mesolimbic dopamine pathways influence affective responses to noxious stimuli, and these pathways are disinhibited in 2CKO mice, we examined the sensitivity of footshock-induced enhancement of startle to dopamine receptor blockade. Systemic administration of the dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist raclopride selectively reduced footshock-induced enhancement of startle without influencing baseline acoustic startle responses. We propose that 5-HT2CRs regulate affective behavioral responses to unconditioned aversive stimuli through mechanisms involving the disinhibition of ascending dopaminergic pathways. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Current Address: Neurona Therapeutics, South San Francisco, California, United States of America Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Current Address: Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, New York, New York, United States of America Current Address: Division of Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America Conceived and designed the experiments: SJB AKS XW AB LHT. Performed the experiments: SJB XW. Analyzed the data: SJB AKS EJL XW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AKS. Wrote the paper: SJB AB LHT. Current Address: Department of Physics, Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia, United States of America |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0142906 |