PERIPHERAL SEROTONIN AND EXPERIMENTAL DIABETES-MELLITUS (TYPE-I) - A REVIEW

Serotonin is a vasoactive amine which has been suggested to be a media tor in a wide number of vascular pathologies. Alterations in periphera l serotonin have been related to a major risk in suffering vascular di seases in the diabetic population. Intraperitoneal administration of s treptozotocin (STZ) to rats lead to a symptomatology similar to the di abetic syndrome type I in humans, making this model suitable for study ing changes in peripheral 5-HT in diabetes mellitus type I. Changes in the levels and metabolism of serotonin in several peripheral tissues, gastrointestinal tract, liver, lung, kidney, plasma and platelets, is discussed in STZ-diabetic rats. An emphasis is made on serotonin tran sport mechanism in platelets. As a whole, in the diabetes mellitus typ e I, the data point to an alteration in the uptake/release of 5-HT in platelets as well as to changes in 5-HT release from intestine, while no major changes are apparent in hepatic, renal and lung metabolism.