Serotonin and Sleep: Molecular, Functional and Clinical Aspects

Foreword Barry Jacobs once memorably commented that the problem in understanding the role of serotonin in the brain was that it was implicated in virtually eve- thing but responsible for nothing [1]. Serotonin (5-HT) is defnitely implicated in the regulation of sleep but what does it do? Once seen as a sleep-promoting molecule, Jacob’s own work, lucidly described in this volume, radically changed our view. In fact, serotonin neurons are most active during waking; their - tivity diminishes with sleep onset and disappears during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Serotonin, therefore, is intimately linked to the sleep-wake cycle, but what is its role, what mechanisms are involved and what are the impli- tions for sleep medicine and psychiatry? Making progress with these diffcult questions requires a “translational” approach, which is a research paradigm where both laboratory and clinical neuroscience inform and guide each other with the ultimate aim of improving understanding and treatment of medical conditions. This volume is a superb example of translational research, where leading basic and clinical scientists - tegrate molecular, neuropharmacological and systems approaches to illuminate the reciprocal interactions of serotonin neurons and the mechanisms involved in sleep and circadian regulation. Serotonin is an ancient chemical mediator preserved through at least 500 m- lion years of evolution. In invertebrate animals such as mollusks and leeches, 5-HT cells are distributed throughout the nervous system among the various ganglia.

Serotonin and Sleep: Molecular, Functional, and Clinical Aspects covers the complete spectrum of the field and explores the link between the latest basic molecular, functional, and clinical aspects of serotonin and the practice of sleep medicine. The volume focuses on 24 different areas of research, with special emphasis relating the state of basic and clinical research to potential applications: changing concepts in serotonin research, topographic organization and chemoarchitecture, receptor mechanisms – its organization and regulation of behavioral states, electrophysiological mechanisms – in vitro, in vivo, and behaving animals and other areas of molecular neurobiology. Also highlighted are studies related to the circadian control of behavioral states, and mechanisms involved in the serotonergic inhibition of REM sleep. Such discussion has profound implications for the basic biology of serotonin.

This unique volume not only explores the cutting-edge research, and the relationship of serotonin to laboratory animals as well as human sleep; it also explores the relevance of serotonin to clinical disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and sleep apnea and brings these areas together to continue to promote the rapid expansion of knowledge in the area of serotonergic neurotransmission across behavioral states.

Written by an international cadre of researchers, this timely volume provides an up-to-date summary of what may be the only view on serotonin from the perspectives of neurobiologists, neuroanatomists, cell biologists, psychiatrists, neuropharmacologists, as well as sleep researchers.