It has long been postulated that a deficiency in CNS serotonergic activity is the cause of, or a predisposing factor for, depression. [1] However, the evidence for this association is largely circumstantial and it certainly does not represent an adequate and full model for depression, probably due to there being multiple aetiological factors. [2] Some pharmacological trial data also cast doubt ...

PURPOSE Semen parameters and sperm DNA were evaluated in patients receiving selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Semen samples were obtained from 74 fertile, depressed men treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (group 1) and 44 healthy fertile volunteers who served as a control (group 2). Two semen analyses and physical examinations were completed in al...

BACKGROUND The neurobiological changes underlying depression resistant to treatments remain poorly understood, and failure to respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may result from abnormalities of neurotransmitter systems that excite serotonergic neurons, such as histamine. METHODS Using behavioral (tail suspension test) and neurochemical (in vivo microdialysis, Western-blot anal...

BACKGROUND The anxiety-reducing effect of long-term administration of serotonin reuptake inhibitors is usually seen only in subjects with anxiety disorders, and such patients are also abnormally inclined to experience a paradoxical anxiety-enhancing effect of acute serotonin reuptake inhibition. These unique responses to serotonin reuptake inhibitors in anxiety-prone subjects suggest, as do gen...

Fluvoxamine is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor that is approved for psychiatric disorders such as major depressive episodes and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Beside inhibition of serotonin reuptake, fluvoxamine is also a potent agonist of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein sigma-1 receptors, which play a role in the pathophysiology of a number of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diso...

To investigate functional changes in the brain serotonin transporter (SERT) after chronic antidepressant treatment, several techniques were used to assess SERT activity, density, or its mRNA content. Rats were treated by osmotic minipump for 21 d with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) paroxetine or sertraline, the selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor desipramine (DMI), ...