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That warm fuzzy feeling: brain serotonergic neurons and the regulation of emotion

¹ Department of Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA; Psychopharmacology Unit, Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
² Henry Wellcome Laboratories for Integrative Neuroscience and Endocrinology, Department of Clinical Sciences at South Bristol, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
³ Psychopharmacology Unit, Department of Community Based Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Abstract

Whether lying on the beach in the midday sun on a Caribbean island, grabbing a few minutes in the sauna or spa after work, or sitting in a hot bath or Jacuzzi in the evening, we often associate feeling warm with a sense of relaxation and well-being. Even ‘working up a good sweat', exercising or performing manual labour in the garden can have its rewards. Although we take these feelings for granted, convergent lines of evidence suggest that sensations of ‘warmth' may alter neural circuits controlling cognitive function and mood, including serotonergic circuits, in addition to those directly involved in thermoregulatory cooling. One mechanism through which sensations of warmth may modulate neural circuits controlling cognitive function and mood is the activation of temperature-activated transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channels, including TRPv3 and TRPv4 which are active in the non-noxious thermal range, 27–42 °C, and subsequent activation of a subpopulation of brainstem serotonergic neurons. In this article, we explore the hypothesis that a subpopulation of serotonergic neurons are thermosensitive and form part of a thermoafferent pathway regulating physiology and behaviour. We also propose the novel hypothesis that dysregulation of this thermosensitive population of serotonergic neurons plays an important role in stress-related neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety and affective disorders.

Key Words: hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, serotonergic, serotonin, thermosensitive, TRPv4

First published on December 12, 2008, doi:10.1177/0269881108099956

Journal of Psychopharmacology 2009;23:392.

A more recent version of this article appeared on June 1, 2009


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