Posted by SLS on April 26, 2010, at 15:35:05
In reply to Re: Turbocharging Clomipramine- Any Suggestions?, posted by bulldog2 on April 26, 2010, at 13:41:43
> > Lithium at dosages between 300-600mg?
> Is this a therapeutic dose?
As an adjunct to standard antidepressants, low dosages of lithium can work miracles. Evidence for this has been collected for over three decades. The early investigations were performed using tricyclics. However, investigations with SSRIs have yielded encouraging results as well.
> Why do you recommend lithium?
Mostly because you are taking a serotonergic tricylic. Among other things, lithium is thought to exert pro-serotonergic effects that are perhaps synergistic with reuptake inhibition. I believe it acts as a 5-HT1b autoreceptor antagonist. Perhaps lithium acts as a serotonin release enhancer - I really don't know.
- Scott
----------------------------------
Psychiatry Res. 2002 Aug 30;111(2-3):117-24.
Interaction of lithium with 5-HT(1B) receptors in depressed unipolar patients treated with clomipramine and lithium versus clomipramine and placebo: preliminary results.Januel D, Massot O, Poirier MF, Olié JP, Fillion G.
Unité de Pharmacologie Neuro-Immuno-Endocrinienne, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. djanuel@freesurf.fr
AbstractLithium is commonly used in combination with antidepressant drugs as a treatment for refractory depression; less often, it is used in non-resistant depression. The aim of this study was to examine the interaction of lithium with 5-HT(1B) receptors in 10 non-resistant unipolar depressed patients treated with clomipramine+lithium (C+L) vs. clomipramine+placebo (C+P). A mediation of the serotonergic system has been proposed in the literature to explain the clinical effect of lithium. Indeed, in a previous study of healthy human blood platelets, we demonstrated the interaction of lithium with adenylate cyclase activity coupled to 5-HT(1B) receptors. The functional activity of these receptors was measured by studying the inhibitory effect of L694,247, a 5-HT(1B) receptor agonist, on the adenylate cyclase activity determined by the production of cAMP. Using the same technique in the present study, we found that lithium significantly reduced the inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity induced by 5-HT(1B) receptor activation. This result confirms the specific interaction of lithium with 5-HT(1B) receptors. Moreover, a correlation between the percentage of 5-HT(1B) receptor-dependent adenylate cyclase inhibition and the clinical benefit of lithium was established, suggesting 5-HT(1B) receptors may be a target for the therapeutic effect of lithium.
The measure of achievement lies not in how high the mountain,
but in how hard the climb.The measure of success lies only in how high one feels he must
climb to get there.
poster:SLS
thread:945128
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/neuro/20100223/msgs/945171.html