Posted by JGalt on November 1, 2001, at 17:44:53
In reply to Re: weirdo question regarding 5-htp and amphetamine » JohnX2, posted by Cam W. on November 1, 2001, at 8:06:54
Cam- You can download that software for the macintosh too. I have it on mine. Go to http://www.CartesianInc.com/Products/Copycat/ and download it. Double click it to decompress it, then put it in the plugins folder of Netscape Navigator or Netscape Communicator (standard on most newer mac system I believe, if not, it can be downloaded too). Whenever you want to view a cpc file, open up netscape, go to File: Open: Page in Navigator. Select the file that john sends you when the menu comes up. Hope this helps.
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John, all very interesting info that you have sent me. I'm still digesting the 50 or so pages I've read. Never knew so much info was contained in patents and beyond the abstracts of studies! Exciting stuff, the thought that serotonin may be more involved in addictiveness and sensitization and possibly tolerance than dopamine.
Interesting idea that one patent had, using the 5-HT2A agonist to protect from NMDA toxicity. They don't list where they got this particular bit of information, but on www.biopsychiatry.com, it states that "By contrast, stimulation of the 5-HT2A receptors accounts for the initial anxiety, insomnia and sexual dysfunction sometimes reported with the SSRIs". Of course, I can imagine it being possible that using the NMDA antagonist may counteract this because then the excess 5-HT2A produced by the agonist is serving a purpose...not sure.
Another interesting study that, though it does not counterdict anything you sent me, provides for another mechanism of action behind the hallucinations typically seen with 5-HT2C stimulation as opposed to 5-HT2A:
Pleiotropic behavior of 5-HT2A
and 5-HT2C receptor agonists
by
Berg KA, Maayani S, Goldfarb J, Clarke WP
Department of Pharmacology,
University of Texas Health Science Center,
San Antonio 78284-7764, USA.
Br J Psychiatry 1997 Nov; 171:444-8ABSTRACT
There is now considerable evidence that a single receptor subtype can couple to multiple effector pathways within a cell. Recently, Kenakin proposed a new concept, termed "agonist-directed trafficking of receptor stimulus", that suggests that agonists may be able to selectively activate a subset of multiple signaling pathways coupled to a single receptor subtype. 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors couple to phospholipase C-(PLC) mediated inositol phosphate (IP) accumulation and PLA2-mediated arachidonic acid (AA) release. Relative efficacies of agonists (referenced to 5-HT) differed depending upon whether IP accumulation or AA release was measured. For the 5-HT2C receptor system, some agonists (e.g. TFMPP) preferentially activated the PLC-IP pathway, whereas others (e.g. LSD) favored PLA2-AA. As expected, EC50's of agonists did not differ between pathways. For the 5-HT2A receptor system, all agonists tested had greater relative efficacy for PLA2-AA than for PLC-IP. In contrast, relative efficacies were not different for 5-HT2A agonists when sequential effects in a pathway were measured (IP accumulation vs. calcium mobilization). These data strongly support the agonist-directed trafficking hypothesis.
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As I mentioned before, I'll get back to you after I've had some time to conceptualize everything they're saying, well, that, and after I've had time to read the other 3 large articles you sent that I still have yet to read. Be sure to pass along anything else you find of interest!
JGalt
poster:JGalt
thread:82843
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011025/msgs/82905.html