Some reports showed that serotonergic system might have existed and that 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) was detected in the hamster heart. The source of 5-HT in the heart, however, remains to be fully elucidated. So the present study was designed to define scrotonergic system and to clarify which cell could produce 5-HT in the heart. As a result, 5-HT was detected in homogenates of HL-1 cardiomyocytes by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection, but not in those of neonatal rat non-cardiomyocytes (NMCs). And TPH and AADC mRNAs were expressed in HL-1 cardiomyocytes and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (MCs), not in NMCs. mRNAs of 5-HT2A receptor were detected in both MCs and NMCs, and those of 5-HT,B receptor in NMCs. These findings definitively demonstrate that 5-HT is secreted from the myocytes of the heart and strongly implied that 5-HT might play a certain role in cardiac physiology. (C)2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.