Molecular biology has dramatically advanced our knowledge and understanding of receptors for 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). The existence of multiple 5-HT receptors defined using traditional pharmacological and biochemical approaches has now been amply confirmed, but gene products encoding putative "new" 5-HT receptors have also been discovered. In some cases, the absence of suitably selective agonists and antagonists has hampered determination of a physiological role for these gene products. This makes their classification as formally recognised receptors premature.