Raloxifene blocks estradiol induction of the serotonin transporter and 5-hydroxytryptamine2A receptor in female rat brain.

Sex steroids have potent effects on mood, mental state and cognition. Our previous findings and those of others suggest that these effects may be due at least in part to estradiol actions on central serotonergic mechanisms. Specifically, estradiol-17beta in its acute positive feedback mode for gonadotropin release in the female rat induces expression of the genes for the 5-hydroxytryptamine(2A) receptor (5-HT(2A)R) and the serotonin transporter (SERT) in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN).