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Serotonin transporter activity and serotonin concentration in platelets of patients with irritable bowel syndrome: effect of gender

  • Original Article—Alimentary Tract
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An Erratum to this article was published on 13 February 2010

Abstract

Background

In the past decade, a strong argument has been built for the role of serotonin (5HT) and the serotonin transporter (SERT) in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, it is still not clear how SERT contributes to this clinically heterogeneous disease. The present study addressed this issue by implementing platelet (plt) markers of SERT activity in the assessment protocol.

Methods

Fasting blood samples of 149 (51 male/98 female) subjects with Rome II and III defined IBS subtypes, and 163 healthy control subjects (CSs; 75 male/88 female) were analyzed for platelet 5HT concentration and 5HT uptake activity [maximum uptake rate (V max) and affinity constant (K m)].

Results

Gender had a significant impact on platelet markers of SERT activity. Male IBS patients showed significantly lower median V max and K m values than the male CS (V max 1.706 vs. 2.148 nmol/109 plts × min, P < 0.001; K m 346 vs. 410 nmol, P = 0.008) without any significant reduction in platelet 5HT concentration (362 vs. 394 ng/109 plts). On the other hand, V max values were not different between female IBS patients and female CS (1.642 vs. 1.741 nmol/109 plts × min), but platelet 5HT concentration was significantly lower in females with diarrhea-predominant IBS (363 vs. 435 ng/109 plts, P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Although an absolute extrapolation from platelets to the gastrointestinal tissue does not appear to be justified, our findings demonstrated that the contribution of disturbed SERT activity to IBS is not uniform and is possibly gender-specific. The results suggest that an assessment of SERT function in platelets may help to elucidate the differences between IBS patients in response to drugs affecting the 5HT system.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte (CCM), Schumannstr. 20-21, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Leonora Franke & Ralf Uebelhack

  2. Division of Hepatology, Gastroenterology, and Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Berlin, Germany

    Marco Schmidtmann, Ivo van der Voort & Hubert Mönnikes

  3. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Mitte, Berlin, Germany

    Anne Riedl

  4. Department of Medicine and Institute of Neurogastroenterology, Martin Luther Hospital, Academic Teaching Institute of Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany

    Marco Schmidtmann & Hubert Mönnikes

Authors
  1. Leonora Franke
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  2. Marco Schmidtmann
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  3. Anne Riedl
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Correspondence to Leonora Franke.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00535-010-0212-x

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Franke, L., Schmidtmann, M., Riedl, A. et al. Serotonin transporter activity and serotonin concentration in platelets of patients with irritable bowel syndrome: effect of gender. J Gastroenterol 45, 389–398 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-009-0167-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00535-009-0167-y

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