Posted by Shawn. T. on March 7, 2004, at 13:24:56
In reply to Re: zoloft and dopamine, posted by rvanson on March 6, 2004, at 23:11:07
Zoloft (sertraline) exhibits relatively weak dopamine reuptake inhibiting properties (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11543737&dopt=Abstract and http://www.preskorn.com/books/ssri_s3.html ). I don't believe that anyone has studied its dopaminergic effects in vivo with humans. A 30 mg/kg, i.p dose of the drug given to rats has been shown to decrease dopamine metabolites; one would expect this result if it were inhibiting dopamine reuptake (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9660102&dopt=Abstract ). Unfortunately, that result doesn't tell us anything about how typical oral doses of Zoloft affect humans. I very strongly doubt that Zoloft is a stronger dopamine reuptake inhibitor than Wellbutrin at normal therapeutic concentrations.
Prozac (fluoxetine) is a 5-HT2C receptor antagonist. As a result, it may increase dopamine and norepinephrine levels in some regions of the brain such as the prefrontal cortex while having no effects in other regions (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11919662&dopt=Abstract ). It's also interesting to note that norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors can inhibit dopamine reuptake in the prefrontal cortex because the region lacks dopamine transporters (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12716261&dopt=Abstract ). On a similar note, the finding by Bymaster et al. (2002) that sertraline does not inhibit the reuptake of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex does not imply that it lacks an effect on dopamine reuptake in other locations.
Shawn
poster:Shawn. T.
thread:321161
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040304/msgs/321644.html