Neuroni komuniciraju putem hemijskih glasnika, kao što je serotonin. Serotoninski transporter vraća serotonin iz sinaptičkog rascepa nazad u sinapse. Stoga on prekida dejstvo serotonina i simultano omogućava njegovu ponovnu upotrebu sapresinaptičkog neurona.[1]Transportni protein putem reciklacije serotonina regulišu njegovu koncentraciju u rascepu, ilisinapsi.
SERT premoštava ćelijsku membranu 12 puta. On pripada NE, DA, SERT familijama monoaminskih transportera. Transporteri su značajne biološke mete za agense kojima se tretirajupsihijatrijski poremećaji. Lekovi koji umanjuju vezivanje serotonina za transportere (selektivni inhibitori preuzimanja serotonina, ili SSRI), i ređe oni koji deluju na suprotan način (selektivni pojačavači preuzimanja serotonina, ili SSRE) se koriste za tretiranje mentalnih poremećaja. Oko polovine pacijenata obolelih od OCD se tretira SSRI lekovima.Fluoksetin je primer selektivnog inhibitora preuzimanja serotonina, atianeptin je primer selektivnog pojačavača preuzimanja serotonina.
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.PMID 15741482.doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.162.3.609. 
