In the central nervous system, serotonergic transmission is critically regulated by serotonin reuptake through the serotonin transporter.

As a crucial pharmacological target of antidepressants, the role of erotonin transporter in treatment of major depression is well-established.

Dr. Chaokun Li and co-workers from Xinxiang Medical University in China cloned the human brain serotonin transporter into Xenopus oocytes, to establish an in vitro expression system.

Two-electrode voltage clamp recordings were used to detect serotonin transporter activity.

Their results show that mifepristone attenuates serotonin transporter activity by directly inhibiting the serotonin transporter, and suggests that the serotonin transporter is a pharmacological target of mifepristone for the treatment of psychotic depression.

The relevant article has been published in Neural Regeneration Research.

Article: " Mifepristone modulates serotonin transporter function," by Chaokun Li, Linlin Shan, Xinjuan Li, Linyu Wei, Dongliang Li (Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan Province, China)

Li CK, Shan LL, Li XJ, Wei LY, Li DL. Mifepristone modulates serotonin transporter function. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(6):646-652.