Corticotropin and cortisol secretion after central 5-hydroxytryptamine-1A (5-HT1A) receptor activation: effects of 5-HT receptor and beta-adrenoceptor antagonists.

To explore the involvement of 5-hydroxytryptamine-1A (5-HT1A) receptors in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation, various doses of ipsapirone (IPS), a centrally acting pyrimidinylpiperazine with considerable affinity and selectivity for 5-HT1A recognition sites, were administered to normal subjects. IPS dose-dependently increased plasma ACTH concentrations from -78 +/- 63 to 614 +/- 250 pmol.min/L (P less than 0.

Subsensitivity of the 5-hydroxytryptamine1A (5-HT1A) receptor-mediated hypothermic response to ipsapirone in unipolar depression.

The selective 5-HT1A receptor ligand ipsapirone (IPS) induces hypothermia in humans. To explore 5-HT1A receptor-mediated thermoregulation in depression, 24 subjects (12 patients with unipolar depression and 12 individually matched controls) received 0.3 mg/kg IPS or placebo in random order.