Posted by Jakeman on July 18, 2005, at 21:10:39
In reply to Anyone take Ultram for psychiatric use?, posted by theo on July 17, 2005, at 15:19:23
Some people do. Check the posts above and in the archives for tramadol. What is your experience with Ultram?
warm regards ~Jake
Effects of chronic tramadol on pre- and post-synaptic measures of monoamine
function.
Hopwood SE, Owesson CA, Callado LF, McLaughlin DP, Stamford JA.
Academic Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, St Bartholomew's and
The Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Royal London Hospital,
Whitechapel, UK.
The atypical analgesic tramadol has strong structural similarities to the
antidepressant venlafaxine and is a mixed noradrenaline (NA) and serotonin
(5-HT) uptake inhibitor. Because tramadol has been found active in the
forced swim test, a common predictor of antidepressant efficacy, we
therefore examined the effects of chronic tramadol on various pre- and
post-synaptic monoamine measures. Male Wistar rats (150-200 g) received
tramadol (20 mg/kg i.p.) or vehicle for 21 days and were sacrificed 24 h
after the last dose. Quantitative autoradiography revealed that specific
frontocortical [3H]dihydroalprenolol and [3H]ketanserin binding was lower in
the chronic tramadol group than controls (beta: 37+/-8 and 217+/-56 fmol/mg;
5-HT2A: 23+/-3 and 44+/-7 fmol/mg, respectively, p < 0.05). Chronic tramadol
had no effect on the magnitude of electrically stimulated noradrenaline (NA)
efflux or uptake in locus coeruleus (LC) slices. Although dexmedetomidine
(10 nM) decreased LC NA efflux equally (by approximately 60%) in chronic
tramadol and vehicle groups, desipramine (50 nM) increased LC NA efflux more
in vehicle (to 164+/-7%) than tramadol-treated rats (144+/-6%; p < 0.05).
Chronic tramadol had no effect on dorsal raphe (DRN) or median raphe (MRN)
5-HT efflux. However, 5-HT uptake in tramadol-treated rats was slower (p <
0.05) in MRN and nearly so (p = 0.055) in DRN. The selective 5-HT1A agonist
8-OH-DPAT reduced 5-HT efflux in both DRN and MRN. Its effect in DRN was
greater in rats given chronic tramadol than in vehicle controls (54+/-2
versus 32+/-6% reduction in 5-HT efflux, respectively). In conclusion, we
suggest that tramadol has many of the pre- and postsynaptic neurochemical
features of a conventional antidepressant, as might be predicted from its
pharmacology.
poster:Jakeman
thread:529093
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050718/msgs/529909.html