Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2013, Article ID 847069, 5 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/847069 Clinical Study First Evidence of Increased Plasma Serotonin Levels in Tako-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy C. Rouzaud Laborde, 1,2,3 C. Delmas, 4 J. Mialet-Perez, 1,2 N. Pizzinat, 1,2 C. Biendel-Picquet, 4 N. Boudou, 4 N. Dumonteil, 4 O. Spreux-Varoquaux, 5,6 D. Carrié, 2,4,7 M. Galinier, 2,4 A. Parini, 1,2 and O. Lairez 1,2,4,7,8 1 Inserm, Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease Institute of Rangueil, 31432 Toulouse, France 2 Paul Sabatier University, 31062 Toulouse, France 3 Department of Pharmacy, University Hospital Center, 31059 Toulouse, France 4 Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, 1 avenue Jean Poulh` es, 31059 Toulouse, France 5 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine Paris-Ouest, 78000 Versailles St-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France 6 Department of Biology, Pharmacology Unit, General Hospital of Versailles, 78150 Le Chesnay, France 7 Cardiac Imaging Center, University Hospital Center, 31059 Toulouse, France 8 Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Center, 31059 Toulouse, France Correspondence should be addressed to O. Lairez; lairez@gmail.com Received 9 April 2013; Revised 6 August 2013; Accepted 12 August 2013 Academic Editor: Amedeo Chiribiri Copyright © 2013 C. Rouzaud Laborde et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. here is no data about the serotonergic activity during the acute phase of Tako-Tsubo Cardiomyopathy (TTC). he objective of our study was to investigate evidence of serotonin release from patients with TTC in comparison with patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and healthy control subjects (HCS). Methods and Results. Plasma serotonin levels in 14 consecutive patients with TTC were compared with those in 14 patients with STEMI and 14 HCS. Plasma serotonin levels at admission were markedly higher in patients with TTC and STEMI as compared to HCS (3.9 ± 4.6,  = 0.02 versus control; 5.7 ± 5.6,  = 0.001 versus control; and 1 ± 0.4 ng/mL, resp.). here was no diference in serotonin levels between patients with TTC and those with STEMI ( = 0.33). Conclusion. his inding suggests that serotonin could participate to the pathophysiology of TTC. 1. Introduction Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) or stress-induced car- diomyopathy is a transient cardiac dysfunction that mimics myocardial infarction. Previous report suggests that exag- gerated sympathetic stimulation could precipitate severe and reversible let ventricular dysfunction induced by emo-tional stress in patients without coronary disease [1]. Catechol- amine-induced myocardial stunning has been postulated as a central mechanism of TTC, and transient increase of sym- pathetic nervous activity with increase of norepinephrine from the heart was suggested to participate to the TTC pathophysiology [2, 3]. Although a recent article reports a serotonin syndrome as an indirect cause of TTC [4], the role of serotonin in myocardial stunning ater acute stressful event remains unknown. he aim of our study was to investigate plasma serotonin release from patients with TTC in comparison with patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and healthy control subjects. 2. Methods 2.1. Population. Between December 2011 and June 2012, 14 consecutive patients with TTC admitted to the Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Rangueil, Toulouse, France, were prospectively included. As previously reported [5], TTC was diagnosed according to the following criteria: