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Chinese Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics ›› 2004, Vol. 9 ›› Issue (12): 1321-1326.

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Signal transduction mechanism of antidepressant action

LIU Yan-Mei, QI Hong, CHEN Hong-Zhuan   

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai 200025, China
  • Received:2004-10-01 Revised:2004-11-23 Online:2004-12-26 Published:2020-11-19

Abstract: The mechanisms of antidepressants are still unclear.There are two classical theories on monoamine neurotransmitter or on neurotransmitter receptors, but both of them can not fully explain the delayed therapeutic action of antidepressants.Recently, many researches have focused on the postreceptor intracellular signal transduction as the mechanism of antidepressant action.G protein is the molecular basis of antidepressants. Neurotransmitter receptors and G protein are the two sectors of their therapeutic action.They will ultimately influence intracellular signal transduction and result in relative effects such as phosphoration, the induction of neurotrophic factors and neurogenesis.This mechanism suggests a reasonable explanation for the clinical delaying of antidepressants and it will do great help for the development of antidepressants.It makes the design of novel, safe and more efficacious antidepressants possible and provides significant information for the elucidation of biology of depression.

Key words: antidepressants, signal transduction, cAMP, G proteins, β-adrenergic receptor

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