Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Can Serotonin Cause High Blood Pressure / Hypertension ? (Serotonin causing High Blood Pressure)

Despite all of the erroneous marketing and exaggerated claims regarding SSRI's - serotonin is not some God-Tier-powerful substance that can eliminate all of our health problems. While deficient states can certainly lead to constipation or other bowel disorders (1), excesses can be just as harmful with that paradigm of disorders and even more harmful systemically(2)

Additionally, it's unclear whether low serotonin itself actually causes any abnormal mental state , as there is mixed evidence with much of it showing that antagonizing (blocking) certain serotonin receptors is a more valuable strategy for treating psychiatric disorders. { ! } { ! }


Serotonin is implicated in a number of cross-reactions in the nervous system, and there are serotonin receptors located directly in/on the heart/atrium. Increased activity of the serotonin receptors 5-HT2B and 5-HT4 is shown on failing hearts. (3) (4)

As such , chemicals/drugs that block these two serotonin receptors are being investigated/trialed for the treatment of those with various forms of heart disease. (5) (6)
Namely, right ventrical heart failure (5-HT2B) and congestive heart failure (CHF) along with tachycardia (5-HT4).

In addition to central heart failure, serotonin itself is dangerous in moderately-elevated to substantially elevated amounts, high plasma serotonin levels are found to cause primary pulmonary hypertension (7) (8) (9).

Additionally, serotonin is found to , along with adrenaline, mediate stress-induced increases in systolic blood pressure, which essentially means that serotonin is about half of the reason why blood pressure can go up in response to stress(10) (11).  Part of this has to do with the serotonin induced accumulation of ALDOSTERONE via 5-HT4 receptor activation(12).

This means that serotonin allows for sodium retention as well as excessive calcium ion influx via that receptor.

Finally, anabolic steroid use, especially that of nandrolone or progestin based steroids - leads to the (abnormal) downregulation of serotonin autoreceptors which then may lead to the direct enhancement of serotonin signaling at the 5-HT4 receptors - which may be a valid hypothesis or at the least, a contribution by AAS in heart failure/enlargement(13) (14) (15).



IN CONCLUSION
  • Serotonin can certainly cause hypertension; high blood pressure in young and old if it is elevated in an abnormal fashion or is consistently elevated above the median.
  • Increased serotonin over time can leading to a failing heart and increased 5-HT4 receptor activity seems to be a valid hypothesis for anabolic steroid induced hypertrophy of human atrium .





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