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Review
. 2023 Jul 6;11(7):1924.
doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11071924.

Diabetic Neuropathic Pain and Serotonin: What Is New in the Last 15 Years?

Nazarine Mokhtar  1 , Stephane Doly  1 , Christine Courteix  1
Affiliations
Review

Diabetic Neuropathic Pain and Serotonin: What Is New in the Last 15 Years?

Nazarine Mokhtar et al. Biomedicines. .

Abstract

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is involved in numerous physiological functions and plays a key role in pain modulation including neuropathic pain. Diabetic neuropathy is a common complication of diabetes mellitus often accompanied by chronic neuropathic pain. Animal models of diabetes offer relevant tools for studying the pathophysiological mechanisms and pharmacological sensitivity of diabetic neuropathic pain and for identifying new therapeutic targets. In this review, we report data from preclinical work published over the last 15 years on the analgesic activity of drugs acting on the serotonergic system, such as serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) antidepressants, and on the involvement of certain serotonin receptors-in particular 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A/2c and 5-HT6 receptors-in rodent models of painful diabetic neuropathy.

Keywords: animal models; painful diabetic neuropathy; serotonin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the writing of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Descending serotonin pathways and 5-HT receptors in the dorsal horn spinal cord. RVM: Rostroventral medulla, EXIN: excitatory interneuron, ININ: inhibitory interneuron, PN: Projection neuron.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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