What is the Formula for the Chemical Serotonin?

Serotonin is a biochemical that is manufactured in the brain. Serotonin is found in the brain, pineal gland and spinal cord, but mainly in the gastrointestinal tract and blood platelets. Also called 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 3-(2-aminoethyl)-1H-indol-5-ol, thrombocytin, and thrombotonin, serotonin facilitates many reactions that occur in the human body. Serotonin influences brain cells that control mood, behavior, desires, memory, appetite, sleep and temperature regulation and helps regulate your cardiovascular system, some glandular functions and your smooth muscle performance.

The Formula of Serotonin

• The molecular formula for serotonin is C10H12N2O, where C is carbon, H is hydrogen, N is nitrogen and O is oxygen. The molecular weight of serotonin is 176.22 grams per mole.

How Serotonin is Made

• The synthesis of serotonin begins with the essential amino acid L-tryptophan, one of the building blocks of protein. An enzyme called tryptophan hydroxylase reacts with the tryptophan in specific cells in the brain and converts the L-tryptophan into 5-hydroxytryptamine, or serotonin.

How Serotonin Works

• Serotonin exercises its effects on cells, and the reactions they control, by binding to specific areas on the these cells called receptor sites. These receptor sites make it possible for serotonin to "dock" at the cells and deliver the chemical messages it is carrying.

The Reactions Serotonin Helps Regulate

• Serotonin influences or controls reactions in most of your 40 million brain cells and in many other areas in your body. Serotonin facilitates neurotransmission (relaying messages from one part of the brain to another), gastrointestinal motility (spontaneous movements of the stomach and intestines that aid in digestion and the movement of food through the digestive tract), hemostasis (stopping bleeding), and cardiovascular integrity (the health and proper operation of the heart, arteries and veins).

Serotonin Deficiency

• Many researchers believe that low serotonin levels may lead to depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, panic attacks and even excess anger. Low levels of serotonin can be caused by a slow-down or break-down in the production of serotonin, not enough receptor sites to take up serotonin and allow it to work, lack of ability of serotonin to get to the receptor sites, or not enough L-tryptophan to make the required amount of serotonin.

Boosting Serotonin Levels

• There are several things you can do that may increase serotonin levels. Eat a meal rich in carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can increase the amount of tryptophan in the bloodstream, which transports the tryptophan to your brain and makes it available for production of serotonin. Make sure you have an adequate amount of vitamin B-6, the vitamin that controls the rate of synthesis of serotonin. Exercise regularly. Exercise elevates mood, possibly by increasing serotonin levels.