Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience
  • Home
  • Network
    • The Bernstein Network
    • Bernstein Centers
      • Berlin
      • Freiburg
      • Göttingen
      • Munich
      • Tübingen
      • Heidelberg-Mannheim
    • Research Infrastructure
      • High Performance Simulation and Data Analysis
      • Research Data Management
      • Science Communication
      • Scientific Coordination
    • Awards and Initiatives
      • Valentin Braitenberg Award
      • Brains for Brains Young Researcher Award
      • Bernstein SmartSteps
    • Committees
    • Statutes
    • Membership
    • History
    • Donation
    • Contact
  • Newsroom
    • Newsroom
    • News
    • Meet the Scientist
    • Events
    • Calls
    • Media Coverage
    • Press
    • Network Publications
    • Bernstein Bulletin
  • Teaching and Research
    • Teaching and Research
    • Find a Scientist
    • Degree Programs
      • Master Programs
      • PhD Programs
    • Study and Training
      • Bernstein Student Workshop Series 2023
      • Online Learning
      • Advanced Courses
      • Internships and Master theses
    • Mission Statement
  • Career
    • Career
    • Job Pool
    • Join our team
  • Bernstein Conference
    • Bernstein Conference
    • Call for Satellite Workshops
    • General Information
      • Tentative Schedule
      • Past Conferences
    • FAQ
  • EN
  • DE
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Newsroom2 / News3 / How serotonin balances communication within the brain
Bochum – April 7, 2020

How serotonin balances communication within the brain

A team of scientists at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) revealed how the neurotransmitter Serotonin fine-tunes the influence of sensory stimuli on internal processing in the brain.

Dirk Jancke, Head of Optical Imaging Lab an der RUB. © RUB, Kramer

/RUB/ Our brain is steadily engaged in soliloquies. These internal communications are usually also bombarded with external sensory events. Hence, the impact of the two neuronal processes need to be permanently fine-tuned to avoid their imbalance. A team around Dirk Jancke at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) revealed the role of the neurotransmitter Serotonin in this scenario. They discovered that distinct serotonergic receptor types control the gain of both streams of information in a separable manner. Their finding may facilitate new concepts of diagnosis and therapy of neuronal disorders related to malfunction of the serotonin system. The study is published online in the open access journal „Elife“ on April 7, 2020.

Impacting on different streams of information in the brain

„The following everyday life example may sketch the task that the brain needs to solve“, explains Dr. Dirk Jancke, Head of the Optical Imaging Group at the Institute of Neural Computation: „Imagine sitting with your family at dinner, a heated debate is going on how to properly organise some internal affairs. Suddenly the phone starts ringing; you are picking up while family discussion goes on. In order to understand the calling party correctly, the crowd in the back must speak lower or the caller needs to speak up. Thus, the loudness of each internal background conversation and external call need to be properly adjusted to ensure non-interfered – that means separable – information transfer.“ As in this anecdote, comparable brain processes involve serotonin.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter of the central nervous system, in common parlance called „Happy hormone“ because it contributes to changes in brain state and is often associated with effects on mood. The study of the RUB team now demonstrates that serotonin participates also in the scaling of current sensory input and ongoing brain signals.

Controlling neuronal release of serotonin with light

The RUB neuroscientists discovered the underlying mechanisms in experiments that investigated cortical processing of visual information. For their study, they used genetically modified mice in which the release of serotonin could be controlled by light. This mouse line was developed by the group of Professor Stefan Herlitze, Department of General Zoology and Neurobiology, to enable specific activation of serotonergic neurons by an implanted light fiber.

Combining this technique with optical imaging, the RUB team found that increasing levels of serotonin in the visual brain leads to concurrent suppression of ongoing activity and activity evoked by visual stimuli. Two types of receptors played a distinct major role here. “This was surprising to us, because both receptors are not only co-expressed in specific neurons but also widely distributed across different cell types in the brain”, says Zohre Azimi, first author of the study. Separable action of these receptors allows distinct modulations of information carrying internal brain communication and evoked sensory signals. Low serotonin levels, as they typically occur during sleep at night, favor internal brain communication, and thus, may promote important functions of dreaming. “Dysfunction in the interplay of these receptors, on the other hand, harbor the risk of an overemphasis of either internally or externally driven information channels”, says Jancke. For example, irregular 5-HT receptor distributions caused by genetic predisposition may become manifest in an imbalanced perception of inner and outside world, similar as seen in clinical pictures of depression and autism.

Facilitating understanding of serotonin effects

The scientists hope that their findings contribute to a better understanding of how serotonin affects fundamental brain processes. In turn, their study may trigger future research in developing receptor-specific drugs that benefit patients with serotonin-related psychiatric diseases.

>> original press release (German)

Original publication

Zohre Azimi, Ruxandra Barzan, Katharina Spoida, Tatjana Surdin, Patric Wollenweber, Melanie D. Mark, Stefan Herlitze, Dirk Jancke: Separable gain control of ongoing and evoked activity in the visual cortex by serotonergic input, in: E-Life, 2020, DOI: 10.7554/eLife.53552

Funding

The study was partly financed through grants of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 874 at RUB, which is supported by the German Research Foundation since 2010. The CRC “Integration and representation of sensory processes” investigates how sensory signals generate neuronal maps, and result in complex behaviour and memory formation.

Further links

Optical Imaging Lab

> more

How serotonin balances communication within the brain

1. December 2020/in /by Alexandra Stein

Kontakt Aktuelles

Contact

PD Dr. Dirk Jancke

Optical Imaging Lab
Institut für Neuroinformatik
Ruhr-Universität Bochum

+49 234 32 27845
dirk.jancke@.rub.de

Bernstein Netzwerk Computational Neuroscience Logo

Become a member
Statutes
Donation
Subscribe to Newsletter

 

Follow us on

Mastodon
© 2023 Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience
  • Contact
  • Imprint
  • Privacy Policy
Scroll to top
Cookie-Zustimmung verwalten
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional Always active
Der Zugriff oder die technische Speicherung ist unbedingt für den rechtmäßigen Zweck erforderlich, um die Nutzung eines bestimmten Dienstes zu ermöglichen, der vom Abonnenten oder Nutzer ausdrücklich angefordert wurde, oder für den alleinigen Zweck der Übertragung einer Nachricht über ein elektronisches Kommunikationsnetz.
Vorlieben
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist für den rechtmäßigen Zweck der Speicherung von Voreinstellungen erforderlich, die nicht vom Abonnenten oder Nutzer beantragt wurden.
Statistics
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu statistischen Zwecken erfolgt. Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff, der ausschließlich zu anonymen statistischen Zwecken verwendet wird. Ohne eine Aufforderung, die freiwillige Zustimmung Ihres Internetdienstanbieters oder zusätzliche Aufzeichnungen von Dritten können die zu diesem Zweck gespeicherten oder abgerufenen Informationen allein in der Regel nicht zu Ihrer Identifizierung verwendet werden.
Marketing
Die technische Speicherung oder der Zugriff ist erforderlich, um Nutzerprofile zu erstellen, um Werbung zu versenden oder um den Nutzer auf einer Website oder über mehrere Websites hinweg zu ähnlichen Marketingzwecken zu verfolgen.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
Settings
{title} {title} {title}