Serotonin is 5-hydroxytryptamine, shortened to 5-HT: the tryptamine skeleton with a hydroxyl at ring position 5 and no methyl groups on its nitrogen, C10H12N2O (PubChem, serotonin). Receptor names such as 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A come from this abbreviation.
Psychedelics look like it. DMT has the same skeleton with no hydroxyl and two methyls, and psilocin carries its hydroxyl at position 4 instead of 5 (PubChem, psilocin). That resemblance is part of why early research looked for a serotonin basis for psychedelic action, and a 2016 review reports a consensus that psychedelics act at 5-HT2A (Nichols, 2016).
The body clears serotonin with the enzyme monoamine oxidase, the same family that breaks down DMT, which is why MAO inhibitors change how serotonin and many drugs are handled (Shulman et al., 2013). Those medicines carry warnings about combining them with other serotonin-acting drugs, because the combination can be dangerous. A 2023 study found that serotonin, which crosses cell membranes poorly, reached receptors inside neurons only in cells able to pump it in (Vargas et al., 2023). What psychedelics do to serotonin signalling over time is still being worked out.
Sources
- PubChem: serotonin (CID 5202)
- Nichols, 2016, Pharmacological Reviews
- Shulman et al., 2013, CNS Drugs: MAO inhibitors
- Vargas et al., 2023, Science
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