Posted by SLS on April 3, 2002, at 10:54:29
In reply to Kramer- Question on Mode of Action - Provigil » Dr. Kramer, posted by IsoM on April 2, 2002, at 12:33:10
> Do you know if Cephalon, the parent company of Provigil, is doing any follow-up studies on it trying to determine Provigil's mode of action in the human brain?
Hi.
I haven't been keeping up with it, but the last time I checked, the only property that researchers seemed to be convinced of is that Provigil (modafinil) promoted an increase in extracellular glutamate. Glutamate is by far the most widespread excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, and it is thought that Provigil increases glutamatergic activity in several key areas responsible for both wakefulness and vigilance/mood. It is my impression that increased wakefullness is promoted by Provigil in the hypothalamus, and increased vigilance and mood elevation in the hippocampus.
According to what I had read, Provigil does not act as a ligand to stimulate directly any NE receptor. It is not a NE alpha-1 agonist.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:101413
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020402/msgs/101678.html