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New compounds may treat depression rapidly with few side effects
New approach could revolutionize treatment
- Date:
- July 13, 2015
- Source:
- University of Maryland School of Medicine
- Summary:
- A new study has identified promising compounds
that could successfully treat depression in less than 24 hours with few
side effects. The compounds could offer significant advantages over
current antidepressant medications.
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FULL STORY
A new study by researchers at
University of Maryland School of Medicine has identified promising
compounds that could successfully treat depression in less than 24 hours
while minimizing side effects. Although they have not yet been tested
in people, the compounds could offer significant advantages over current
antidepressant medications.
The research, led by Scott Thompson, PhD, Professor and Chair of the
Department of Physiology at the University of Maryland School of
Medicine (UM SOM), was published this month in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
"Our results open up a whole new class of potential antidepressant
medications," said Dr. Thompson. "We have evidence that these compounds
can relieve the devastating symptoms of depression in less than one day,
and can do so in a way that limits some of the key disadvantages of
current approaches."
Currently, most people with depression take medications that increase
levels of the neurochemical serotonin in the brain. The most common of
these drugs, such as Prozac and Lexapro, are selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. Unfortunately, SSRIs are effective in
only a third of patients with depression. In addition, even when these
drugs work, they typically take between three and eight weeks to relieve
symptoms. As a result, patients often suffer for months before finding a
medicine that makes them feel better. This is not only emotionally
excruciating; in the case of patients who are suicidal, it can be
deadly. Better treatments for depression are clearly needed.
Dr. Thompson and his team focused on another neurotransmitter besides
serotonin, an inhibitory compound called GABA. Brain activity is
determined by a balance of opposing excitatory and inhibitory
communication between brain cells. Dr. Thompson and his team argue that
in depression, excitatory messages in some brain regions are not strong
enough. Because there is no safe way to directly strengthen excitatory
communication, they examined a class of compounds that reduce the
inhibitory messages sent via GABA. They predicted that these compounds
would restore excitatory strength. These compounds, called GABA-NAMs,
minimize unwanted side effects because they are precise: they work only
in the parts of the brain that are essential for mood.
The researchers tested the compounds in rats that were subjected to
chronic mild stress that caused the animals to act in ways that resemble
human depression. Giving stressed rats GABA-NAMs successfully reversed
experimental signs of a key symptom of depression, anhedonia, or the
inability to feel pleasure. Remarkably, the beneficial effects of the
compounds appeared within 24 hours -- much faster than the multiple
weeks needed for SSRIs to produce the same effects.
"These compounds produced the most dramatic effects in animal studies
that we could have hoped for," Dr. Thompson said. "It will now be
tremendously exciting to find out whether they produce similar effects
in depressed patients. If these compounds can quickly provide relief of
the symptoms of human depression, such as suicidal thinking, it could
revolutionize the way patients are treated."
In tests on the rats' brains, the researchers found that the
compounds rapidly increased the strength of excitatory communication in
regions that were weakened by stress and are thought to be weakened in
human depression. No effects of the compound were detected in unstressed
animals, raising hopes that they will not produce side effects in human
patients.
"This work underscores the importance of basic research to our
clinical future," said Dean E. Albert Reece, MD, PhD, MBA, who is also
the vice president for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland, and the
John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean of the
School of Medicine. "Dr. Thompson's work lays the crucial groundwork to
transform the treatment of depression and reduce the tragic loss of
lives to suicide."
Story Source:
The above post is reprinted from
materials provided by
University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
- Jonathan Fischell, Adam M Van Dyke, Mark D Kvarta, Tara A LeGates, Scott M Thompson. Rapid
Antidepressant Action and Restoration of Excitatory Synaptic Strength
After Chronic Stress by Negative Modulators of Alpha5-Containing GABAA
Receptors. Neuropsychopharmacology, 2015; DOI: 10.1038/npp.2015.112
Cite This Page:
University
of Maryland School of Medicine. "New compounds may treat depression
rapidly with few side effects: New approach could revolutionize
treatment." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 July 2015.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150713131349.htm>.
New drug may treat depression in 24 hours
By PTI | 14 Jul, 2015, 05.14PM IST
3 comments |Post a Comment
READ MORE ON » University of Maryland School of Medicine | Thompson Professor | stress | Scott Thompson | professor and chair | ..
New drug may treat depression in 24 hours
By PTI | 14 Jul, 2015, 05.14PM IST
3 comments |Post a Comment
READ MORE ON » University of Maryland School of Medicine | Thompson Professor | stress | Scott Thompson | professor and chair | ..
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