Review Article

The diverse role of the raphe 5-HTergic systems in epilepsy

He-ming Cheng1, Chen-shu Gao1, Qiu-wen Lou1, Zhong Chen1,2, Yi Wang1
1 Key Laboratory of Neuropharmacology and Translational Medicine of Zhejiang Province, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China
2 Epilepsy Center, Department of Neurology, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Correspondence to: Yi Wang: wang-yi@zju.edu.cn,
DOI: 10.1038/s41401-022-00918-2
Received: 15 February 2022
Accepted: 5 May 2022
Advance online: 25 May 2022

Abstract

The raphe nuclei comprise nearly all of 5-hydroxytryptaminergic (5-HTergic) neurons in the brain and are widely acknowledged to participate in the modulation of neural excitability. “Excitability-inhibition imbalance” results in a variety of brain disorders, including epilepsy. Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder characterized by hypersynchronous epileptic seizures accompanied by many psychological, social, cognitive consequences. Current antiepileptic drugs and other therapeutics are not ideal to control epilepsy and its comorbidities. Cumulative evidence suggests that the raphe nuclei and 5-HTergic system play an important role in epilepsy and epilepsy-associated comorbidities. Seizure activities propagate to the raphe nuclei and induce various alterations in different subregions of the raphe nuclei at the cellular and molecular levels. Intervention of the activity of raphe nuclei and raphe 5-HTergic system with pharmacological or genetic approaches, deep brain stimulation or optogenetics produces indeed diverse and even contradictory effects on seizure and epilepsy-associated comorbidities in different epilepsy models. Nevertheless, there are still many open questions left, especially regarding to the relationship between 5-HTergic neural circuit and epilepsy. Understanding of 5-HTergic network in a circuit- and molecule-specific way may not only be therapeutically relevant for increasing the drug specificity and precise treatment in epilepsy, but also provide critical hints for other brain disorders with abnormal neural excitability. In this review we focus on the roles of the raphe 5-HTergic system in epilepsy and epilepsy-associated comorbidities. Besides, further perspectives about the complexity and diversity of the raphe nuclei in epilepsy are also addressed.
Keywords: raphe nuclei; 5-HT; epilepsy; epilepsy-associated comorbidities; SSRI; sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP)

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