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Review
. 2025 Jan;36(1):83-95.
doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2024.07.014. Epub 2024 Aug 13.

Host-microbe serotonin metabolism

Emilia Nunzi  1 , Marilena Pariano  1 , Claudio Costantini  1 , Enrico Garaci  2 , Paolo Puccetti  1 , Luigina Romani  3
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Host-microbe serotonin metabolism

Emilia Nunzi et al. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2025 Jan.
Free article

Abstract

As a result of a long evolutionary history, serotonin plays a variety of physiological roles, including neurological, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and endocrine functions. While many of these activities can be accommodated within the serotoninergic activity, recent findings have revealed an unsuspected role of serotonin in orchestrating host and microbial dialogue at the tryptophan dining table, to the benefit of local and systemic homeostasis. Herein we review the dual role of serotonin at the host-microbe interface and discuss how unraveling the interconnections among the host and microbial pathways of tryptophan degradation may help to accommodate the versatility of serotonin in physiology and pathology.

Keywords: indoles; kynurenine; microbiota; serotonin; tryptophan.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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