Posted by Cam W. on December 4, 2001, at 8:19:49
In reply to Re: CRH (crf) antagonists in the pipeline? » Cam W., posted by SLS on December 4, 2001, at 7:41:42
Scott - I haven't directly investigated ketoconazole for depression (too many side effects), but some of the side literature comments (ie. comments made in, and basically general asides in, related "overall Tx of depression" articles) have made me raise an eyebrow.
I really have not read anything that would make me believe that the main mechanism of action of ketoconazole was not really due to cytochrome enzyme induction (perhaps increasing the concentration an unnamed endogenous/exogenous protein/enzyme/molecule relevant to depressive symptomatology). I have thought a fair bit about what the cytochrome system does within the body. We always are hearing about what foreign, man-made chemicals it metabolizes, but never about what it really was designed for. Surely, the CYP system is not a recent evolved system to metabolize Elavil and Prozac; it has to have some homeostatic purpose; possibly metabolizing some environmental compound (eg. dietary constituent?), perhaps relating to mood.
Hmmmm....Cam
poster:Cam W.
thread:85895
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011202/msgs/85953.html