Key result
Serotonin syndrome is a potentially fatal adverse drug reaction triggered by increased serotonergic activity, often due to drug interactions, requiring increased medical awareness for proper diagnosis.
Why the study?
With escalating antidepressant use, serotonin syndrome may become more recurrent, yet it is often overlooked by patients or underdiagnosed by doctors.
This review provides a comprehensive pharmacological perspective on serotonin syndrome to improve clinical awareness, diagnosis, and understanding of its underlying mechanisms.
Prompts closer monitoring of serotonergic combinations in polypharmacy; extends mechanistic synthesis while leaving diagnostic thresholds open to prospective validation.
Serotonin syndrome (SS) is a potentially fatal adverse drug reaction characterized by an exaggerated increase in serotonergic activity in the central and peripheral nervous systems. It presents a constellation of signs and symptoms related to behavioral changes, neuromuscular excitability, and autonomic instability. These symptoms can occur in both mild and severe forms. SS can be triggered by the therapeutic use of a drug that increases serotonin (5-HT) availability in the synaptic cleft or by the co-administration of two or more drugs that provide this increase. With the escalating use of antidepressants by the world's population, this adverse reaction may be more recurrent. However, SS is often overlooked by patients or not diagnosed by doctors. This review aims to improve awareness about SS and provide a pharmacological perspective to explain its occurrence. Evidence shows that other neurotransmitters may also be involved with the pathology of SS. Furthermore, SS and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) seem to be part of the same pathological spectrum, especially in atypical NMS cases. The emergence of the syndrome's symptoms may be closely related to pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic polymorphisms that lead to an increase in the 5-HT available to or 5-HT signaling by specific receptors, thus constituting an important area for future investigations.
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Poian et al. (2023) conducted a review in Serotonin Syndrome. Serotonergic drugs was evaluated. Serotonin syndrome is a potentially fatal adverse drug reaction triggered by increased serotonergic activity, often due to drug interactions, requiring increased medical awareness for proper diagnosis.
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