Potential new targets for antidepressant medicationsAugust 27, 2008The news about antidepressant medications over the past several years has been mixed. The bad news from large multicenter studies such as STAR*D is that current antidepressant medications are effective, but not as effective as one might hope. Thus, there is a significant need for new treatment mechanisms for depression. On that front, there has been mixed news as well. One of the most exciting new drugs to reach human clinical trials, one that blocks the corticotrophin releasing factor-1 (CRF1) receptor, did not work in a large clinical trial sponsored by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. Is it time to abandon CRF1 antagonists as antidepressants or should we revisit these agents from a new perspective? It is in this context that a new paper by Alexandre Surget and colleagues, scheduled for publication in the August 15th issue of Biological Psychiatry, is particularly interesting. Through prior work, it has been shown that the ability to reverse the stress-related disruption of hippocampal neurogenesis, the ability of the brain to make new nerve cells in adulthood, was important to the actions of our available antidepressant medications. In this new study, the researchers affirm the prior findings, but suggest that two experimental approaches to the treatment of depression, blockade of the CRF1 receptor or the vasopressin-1B (V1B) receptor, retain their efficacy in reversing the impact of stress on behavior even when neurogenesis is disrupted. Catherine Belzung, Ph.D., corresponding author on this article, further explains that "we now report evidence that restoration of the functioning of the stress axis may be the key to how these new antidepressant approaches might work." How can one reconcile these interesting research findings in animals with the lack of antidepressant efficacy of a CRF1 receptor antagonist in the Pfizer study? Is this approach simply ineffective in humans or might there be subgroups of patients who might be more likely to respond to a CRF1 antagonist? The Surget et al. data raise the possibility that CRF1 receptor antagonists might be effective in treating stress-related behavioral disturbances even in a context where other antidepressants do not work, perhaps due to disruption of neurogenesis. John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, comments: "These findings lend weight to the hope that CRF1 antagonists might play a role in the treatment of antidepressant-resistant symptoms of depression or posttraumatic stress disorder. If so, CRF1 antagonists could fulfill an important unmet need." He adds that "we do not need another Prozac, but we urgently need to find ways to help the large number of patients who fail to respond adequately to our available treatments." Elsevier |
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| Related Antidepressant Current Events and Antidepressant News Articles Viagra for women? Drug developed as antidepressant effective in treating low libido Pooled results from three separate clinical trials of flibanserin, a drug originally created as an antidepressant, show it is effective in treating women with acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder. These trials were the first ever to test a therapy that works at the level of the brain to enhance libido in women reporting low sexual desire. New TMS clinic offers noninvasive treatment for major depression Rush University Medical Center has opened the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Clinic to offer patients suffering from major depression a safe, effective, non-drug treatment. Hunting for the Prozac Gene Prozac works wonders for some depressed people, but not for others. In some cases, patients derive little benefit and at worst, it can lead to bizarre hallucinations and fits of rage. Why antidepressants don't work for so many More than half the people who take antidepressants for depression never get relief. Study reveals an increase in long-term antidepressant drug use A dramatic rise in antidepressant prescriptions issued by GPs has been caused by a year on year increase in the number of people taking antidepressant drugs on a long-term basis, according to researchers from the University of Southampton. Popular antidepressant associated with a dramatic increase in suicidal thoughts amongst men Nortriptyline has been found to cause a ten-fold increase in suicidal thoughts in men when compared to its competitor escitalopram. These findings are published in the open access journal BMC Medicine. Antidepressant and placebo are equally effective in child pain relief When used "off-label," the antidepressant amitriptyline works just as well as placebo in treating pain-predominant gastrointestinal disorders in children, according to a new study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute. Chronic pain treatments work better together, says Queen's anesthesiologist People who suffer from debilitating neuropathic pain may get more relief and sleep better by combining two commonly-prescribed drugs. Less than 50 percent of men and women with depression see a doctor for treatment Less than half of men and women in Ontario who may be suffering from depression see a doctor to treat their potentially debilitating condition, according to a new women's health study by researchers at St. Michael's Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Are the monoamines involved in shaping conduct disorders? Antisocial and aggressive behaviours represent a widespread and expensive social problem. Recent research has convincingly shown that there is a strong interaction between genetic inheritance and environment for development of personality and behaviour. More Antidepressant Current Events and Antidepressant News Articles |
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