The molecular neuroanatomy of the synapses established by the ascending serotonergic system

Median raphe is one of the serotonergic nuclei innervating the forebrain. It was shown in the hippocampus, that the median raphe establishes multiple synaptic contacts on a specific subpopulation of local interneurons, which in turn innervate hippocampal pyramidal cells. Our laboratory described that these median raphe fibres have an excitatory effect on these interneurons, with a strong glutamatergic component. However, the exact molecular machinery of this glutamatergic transmission is still not known.