In vitro and in vivo effect of fluoxetine on the permeability of 3H-serotonin across rat intestine

The aim of this work was to characterize the mucosal-to-serosal (apical to basolateral; AP-BL) and serosal-to-mucosal (basolateral to apical; BL-AP) transport of serotonin (5-HT) across rat jejunum, ileum, and colon, and to determine the influence of serotonin neuronal transporter inhibitors on this transport. The AP-BL apparent permeability (Papp) of 3H-5-HT increased in the order colon = jejunum < ileum, and the BL-AP Papp of 3H-5-HT increased in the order colon < jejunum = ileum. In vitro, neither fluoxetine (0.02 or 0.2 micromol/L) nor desipramine (0.4 or 4 micromol/L) had a significant effect upon the AP-BL or BL-AP Papp of 3H-5-HT in any of the intestinal regions. However, fluoxetine (0.2 micromol/L) decreased the accumulation of 3H-5-HT in the ileum (to 65% of control) in the BL-AP experiments. In vivo, chronic fluoxetine (10 mg/kg daily administered orally for 15 days), as assessed in the ileum, significantly increased (to +/-180% of control levels) the BL-AP Papp of 3H-5-HT and tended to increase the AP-BL Papp of 3H-5-HT. In conclusion, the increase in the Papp of 3H-5-HT after chronic administration of fluoxetine suggests that this treatment is able to increase the extracellular concentration of 3H-5-HT at the intestinal level.