Monoamine oxidases (MAOs) are two enzymes (MAO-A and MAO-B) which inactivate the so called monoamine transmitter substances serotonin, noradrenalin and dopamine. The brain systems which utilise those transmitters are of great importance for the fine-tuning of personality traits, as well as state-dependent features such as mood, appetite, attention, etc.

Genetic mouse models have provided surprising insight into mechanisms linking serotoninergic compounds with the regulation of feeding behavior and body weight.

Why do many Canadians get the winter blues? In the first study of its kind in the living human brain, Dr. Jeffrey Meyer and colleagues at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) have discovered greater levels of serotonin transporter in the brain in winter than in summer.

The neurotransmitter serotonin, which acts as a chemical messenger between nerve cells, plays a critical role in regulating emotions such as aggression during social decision-making, new research by scientists at England's University of Cambridge and UCLA suggests. Their findings appear June 6 in the peer-reviewed journal Science.

University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers have identified the neurotransmitter serotonin as the chemical responsible for inhibiting milk production and secretion in human mammary glands.

People who work rotating shifts have significantly lower levels of serotonin, a hormone and neurotransmitter in the central nervous system believed to play an important role in the regulation of sleep, according to a study published in the August 1st issue of the journal SLEEP.

People who suffer from anxiety tend to interpret ambiguous situations, situations that could potentially be dangerous but not necessarily so, as threatening. Researchers from the Mouse Biology Unit of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Italy have now uncovered the neural basis for such anxiety behaviour in mice.