Raphe neurons: Firing rate correlates with size of drug response

Significant negative correlations were obtained between the spontaneous discharge rate during waking and the neural response to systemic injections of either 5-MeODMT or LSD for serotonergic neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus, nucleus centralis superior, and nucleus raphe pallidus of unanesthetized and unrestrained cats. These data are discussed in terms of an hypothesis which accounts for both the rate of spontaneous activity of serotonergic neurons and the magnitude of their response to serotonin agonist drugs in terms of autoreceptor density on individual neurons.