Posted by chemist on May 1, 2005, at 3:10:42
In reply to Re: why do antipsychotics have anti-depressant effect?, posted by Phillipa on April 30, 2005, at 19:33:32
hello there, chemist here...one item missing from this discourse is the role of dopamine in positive/negative affect (in the context of schizophrenia and depression, at least) and the modulatory role of serotonin. positive affect in schizophrenia is overproduction and reuptake of dopamine in D_{2}/D_{3} couples in the mid-brain, and 5-HT_{2} agonism gone awry (some thought that way): antagonism of D_{2} (not to mention drug-dependent targeting of alpha_{1}, h_{1}, the aforementioned 5-ht_{2a,c}, some 5-ht_{1x}) will bring the attendant psychoses (5-HT_{2x} is a common target) and, in a milder state, mania to a lower tilt. some AAPs - ziprasidone, e.g. - can be classified as SSNRIs without a stretch. in last week's Nature, i read a precis from an article in Neuron concerning the duality, perhaps is the word, of dopaminergic neurons in DA AND 5-HT reuptake in rat brain, suggesting that perhaps the permissive serotonin hypotesis might be something to revisit. certainly anti-depressant effects attributed to relief of negative affect - again, DA implicated, but in another part of the brain - of schizophrenia are not at all out of the realm of implication of DA as well as 5-HT modulation. all the best, chemist
poster:chemist
thread:491782
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050428/msgs/492192.html