Inversion of the response to serotonin in rats with traumatic shock.

Normally serotonin reduced blood pressure. It was shown that in rats with traumatic shock its hypotensive effect was transformed into hypertensive one. In vitro serotonin exhibited a slight vasoconstrictor effect on isolated rat aorta, while 24 h after injury, the strength of aortic contractions in response to serotonin increased 2.2 times. Desensitization of glucocorticoid receptors caused by injection of high doses of dexamethasone (3 mg/kg) to rats for 5 days led to similar changes in serotonin effect. We hypothesized that inversion of the response to serotonin in shock was caused by increased activity and/or expression of vasoconstrictor serotonin receptors in blood vessels.