title: 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.
mesh_terms: D006916:5-Hydroxytryptophan / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D003891:Desipramine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D015031:Zimeldine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D012701:Serotonin; D015031:Zimeldine; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid; D006916:5-Hydroxytryptophan; D003891:Desipramine; D009638:Norepinephrine