Posted by ShawnThomas on January 21, 2008, at 20:19:37
In reply to Re: Drugs that affect dopamine levels + receptors » ShawnThomas, posted by Phillipa on January 21, 2008, at 18:28:10
Some called SSRIs are actually SRIs; simply serotonin reuptake inhibitors that have other clinically relevant mechanisms of action. These would include Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, and Fluvox in my opinion. This doesn't make a bit of sense to me either.
The meaning of the word stimulant depends on the context in which it is used. Eli Lilly claims that the drug atomoxetine (Strattera) is not a stimulant because it doesn't directly affect dopamine systems (i.e., the dopamine reuptake transporter or dopamine receptors). Some people would classify drugs that indirectly affect dopamine release as stimulants; caffeine is a good example. Unfortunately, lots of drugs indirectly affect dopamine release, and we cannot list them all. My list is basically meant to show you all the FDA approved drugs for psychiatric or neurological conditions that either A. directly lead to increased extracellular dopamine levels or increased dopamine release in the brain; B. inhibit the dopamine reuptake transporter; or C. directly affect dopamine receptors. If you consider the drugs that I did not say were antagonists or inverse agonists, then those could probably be considered stimulants that directly affect dopamine systems. Entacapone and carbidopa don't affect dopamine systems in the brain and are not stimulants. Of course, the antipsychotics are not simulants. I listed some of them as simply binding to dopamine receptors because I didn't have any evidence that they were antagonists, inverse agonists, and so on. Let me know if you want me to limit my list to stimulants. How do you define the word "stimulant?"
Shawn
poster:ShawnThomas
thread:807927
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/neuro/20080114/msgs/808233.html