Posted by Ame Sans Vie on February 25, 2003, at 15:53:23
In reply to Re: maybe you misunderstood..., posted by crazychickuk on February 25, 2003, at 15:11:53
Hi there... maybe I can explain this (I'll try anyway :-)
First of all, I'm sure you know serotonin is a messenger chemical in the brain; it's responsible for carrying nerve impulses across synapses in the brain. Normally, when serotonin "jumps" the synapse, not all of it is accepted at the other side-- thus it gets sent back across the synapse to whence it came. This is called "reuptake". This is what beardedlady meant by "recycling" of serotonin.
When an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake *inhibitor*) is being taken, the serotonin sent back from across the synapse is blocked from re-entering the nerve terminal it came from. Therefore it's forced to travel back across the synapse. This all results in higher levels of the neurotransmitter being available throughout the brain.
I'm no expert on this, so anyone correct me if I'm wrong about the terminology.
poster:Ame Sans Vie
thread:203699
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030224/msgs/203766.html