Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
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.

PubMed Disclaimer

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

References

    1. Jensen T.S., Baron R., Haanpää M., Kalso E., Loeser J.D., Rice A.S.C., Treede R.-D. A New Definition of Neuropathic Pain. Pain. 2011;152:2204–2205. doi: 10.1016/j.pain.2011.06.017. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ding X., Fang C., Li X., Cao Y.-J., Zhang Q.-L., Huang Y., Pan J., Zhang X. Type 1 Diabetes-Associated Cognitive Impairment and Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy in Chinese Adults: Results from a Prospective Cross-Sectional Study. BMC Endocr. Disord. 2019;19:34. doi: 10.1186/s12902-019-0359-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Damanik J., Yunir E. Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Cognitive Impairment. Acta Medica Indones. 2021;53:213–220. - PubMed
    1. Bai J.-W., Lovblom L.E., Cardinez M., Weisman A., Farooqi M.A., Halpern E.M., Boulet G., Eldelekli D., Lovshin J.A., Lytvyn Y., et al. Neuropathy and Presence of Emotional Distress and Depression in Longstanding Diabetes: Results from the Canadian Study of Longevity in Type 1 Diabetes. J. Diabetes Its Complicat. 2017;31:1318–1324. doi: 10.1016/j.jdiacomp.2017.05.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tesfaye S., Boulton A.J.M., Dyck P.J., Freeman R., Horowitz M., Kempler P., Lauria G., Malik R.A., Spallone V., Vinik A., et al. Diabetic Neuropathies: Update on Definitions, Diagnostic Criteria, Estimation of Severity, and Treatments. Diabetes Care. 2010;33:2285–2293. doi: 10.2337/dc10-1303. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources