fluvoxamine and vanoxerine

There is a need for antidepressants with novel mechanisms of action. One approach has been to develop compounds that inhibit reuptake of all three monoamines in the central nervous system, for example DOV216,303. Differential reinforcement of low-rate (72-s) responding is a behavioral test that is predictive of antidepressant-like properties. The effects of antidepressant compounds belonging to multiple classes, the anxiolytic diazepam and the antipsychotic haloperidol, were assessed in the DRL-72s task. Subsequently, the antidepressant-like properties of acute DOV216,303 were assessed. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine, the preferential norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor desipramine and the tricyclic antidepressant imipramine exhibited antidepressant-like properties in the DRL-72s task. The atypical antidepressant bupropion, which inhibits dopamine and norepinephrine reuptake, and the selective dopamine transporter inhibitor GBR12909, changed reinforcement and response rates and inter-response time distribution in an opposite direction compared with the antidepressant compounds tested. The antipsychotic haloperidol exhibited antidepressant-like properties by increasing reinforcement rate, but failed to alter inter-response time distribution. Diazepam did not change reinforcement or response rates or inter-response time distribution. The triple reuptake inhibitor DOV216,303 significantly enhanced reinforcement rate at one intermediate dose, but exhibited similar effects as bupropion and GBR12909 on inter-response time distribution. The studies identified limited antidepressant-like properties of the triple reuptake inhibitor DOV216,303, likely due to dopamine transporter inhibition counteracting the effects of norepinephrine and serotonin transporter inhibition.

Topics: Animals; Antidepressive Agents; Aza Compounds; Bridged Bicyclo Compounds, Heterocyclic; Bupropion; Desipramine; Diazepam; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; Fluvoxamine; Haloperidol; Imipramine; Male; Piperazines; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reinforcement, Psychology

Iodine-123 labelled 2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-4-iodophenylnortropane (nor-beta-CIT), a radioiodinated cocaine analogue, was evaluated as an agent for the in vivo labelling of serotonin transporters by biodistribution studies in rats. Intravenous injection of [123I]nor-beta-CIT resulted in high accumulation of radioactivity in brain areas with high densities of serotonin (hypothalamus) and dopamine transporters (striatum), although the binding was less pronounced in the hypothalamus. While binding of [123I]nor-beta-CIT in the hypothalamus was blocked significantly by fluvoxamine (a selective serotonin transporter blocker) but not by GBR12,909 (a selective dopamine transporter blocker), the opposite was observed in the striatum. The results of this study indicate that [123I]nor-beta-CIT, although not being a selective radioligand, binds specifically to serotonin transporters in the hypothalamus in vivo and thus suggest that [123I]nor-beta-CIT promises to be a suitable radioligand for single-photon emission tomography imaging of serotonin transporters in humans.

Topics: Animals; Brain; Carrier Proteins; Cocaine; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; Fluvoxamine; Iodine Radioisotopes; Male; Membrane Glycoproteins; Membrane Transport Proteins; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Piperazines; Radionuclide Imaging; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; Serotonin; Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; Tropanes