Therapeutic indications for serotonin-potentiating compounds: a hypothesis.

Abstract

The original antidepressants, tricyclics and MAO inhibitors, increase the availability in the brain of both 5-HT and NA. Prompted by clinical findings suggestive of 5-HT disturbances in depression, drugs were developed that increase 5-HT selectively. Data are presented that suggest that broad-spectrum compounds may provide better conditions for antidepressant effects than the 5-HT-selective ones. The hypothesis is proposed that 5-HT potentiators are partial antidepressants, in that they predominantly reduce the anxiety/aggressive component of the depressive syndrome, and deserve to be tested in conditions with heightened anxiety and/or aggression irrespective of the nosological diagnosis. Tentative evidence relates diminished 5-HT metabolism to disordered impulse control. Based on these data, trials of 5-HT potentiators in impulse control disorders unrelated to aggressive drives seem warranted.

• Authors: H M van Praag, R Kahn, G M Asnis, C Z Lemus, S L Brown
• Journal: Biological psychiatry (Biol Psychiatry) Vol. 22 Issue 2 Pg. 205-12 (Feb 1987) ISSN: 0006-3223 [Print] United States
• PMID: 2434148 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Antidepressive Agents
• Serotonin
• Zimeldine
• Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid
• 5-Hydroxytryptophan
• Desipramine
• Norepinephrine

Topics

• 5-Hydroxytryptophan (therapeutic use)
• Aggression (drug effects)
• Antidepressive Agents (therapeutic use)
• Anxiety (drug therapy)
• Brain (metabolism)
• Depressive Disorder (drug therapy)
• Desipramine (therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid (cerebrospinal fluid)
• Norepinephrine (metabolism)
• Serotonin (metabolism)
• Zimeldine (therapeutic use)