Amisulpride antidepressant

INTRODUCTION: Priapism is a persistent, and often painful, penile erection, lasting more than 3 hours, not usually associated with sexual stimuli. It is a urological emergency that can cause serious complications. Drugs are responsible of the onset of 25 to 40% of cases of priapism. Several classes of medication are involved: antidepressants, antihypertensives, anticoagulants, alpha-blockers and some psychoactive substances (alcohol, cocaine, cannabis...). However, about 50% of drug related priapism is due to antipsychotics (AP)...

Despite numerous antidepressants available, many patients with depression do not achieve adequate response rendering needs for novel antidepressants with different mechanism of actions. Acetyl-l-carnitine (ALC) is a potential antidepressant with novel mechanism of action because of its diverse functions related with neuroplasticity. Animal and cellular models suggest that ALC's neuroplasiticity effect, membrane modulation, and neurotransmitter regulation may play an important role in treatment of depression...

In the last decades, the potential association between antidepressants and cancer risk has been increasingly investigated. Fundamental researches, performed on animal models and cell tumoral lines, have highlighted several biological mechanisms possibly supporting this association. Nevertheless, the epidemiological studies investigating the risk of cancer in patients receiving selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) have provided conflicting and inconclusive results...

Our review describes potential weight-altering effects of psychotropic medications (antipsychotics, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, mood stabilizers, sedative-hypnotics, medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other psychotropic medications) and offers guidance on switching a medication if its weight-altering effect becomes problematic. For second-generation antipsychotics, the risk of weight gain is high with clozapine and olanzapine, low with amisulpride, aripiprazole, and ziprasidone, and medium with other second-generation antipsychotics...

Clinical trials of pharmacological agents targeting negative symptoms in schizophrenia are reviewed. The focus is on trials that occurred in patients who were stable on an antipsychotic medication at entry to the trial. A small number of trials compared antipsychotics as monotherapy for negative symptoms. Although the data supporting amisulpride for negative symptoms is promising the trials have limitations and it is plausible that the advantages of amisulpride over placebo may result from effects on secondary negative symptoms...

This article is an update of the algorithm for schizophrenia from the Psychopharmacology Algorithm Project at the Harvard South Shore Program. A literature review was conducted focusing on new data since the last published version (1999-2001). The first-line treatment recommendation for new-onset schizophrenia is with amisulpride, aripiprazole, risperidone, or ziprasidone for four to six weeks. In some settings the trial could be shorter, considering that evidence of clear improvement with antipsychotics usually occurs within the first two weeks...

The antagonism of 5-HT7 receptors may contribute to the antidepressant and procognitive actions of the atypical antipsychotic drug, amisulpride. It has been previously demonstrated that the selective 5-HT7 receptor antagonist reversed restraint stress-induced cognitive impairments in a rat model of frontal-dependent attentional set-shifting task (ASST). Therefore, the first aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of amisulpride against stress-evoked cognitive inflexibility. The second goal was to elucidate whether the pro-cognitive effect of amisulpride could be due to the compound's action at 5-HT7 receptors...

INTRODUCTION: The altered profiles of prolactin secretion in the anterior hypophysis, generated by pathological, pharmacological or toxicological causes, have special consequences on multiple functions in both genders. AREAS COVERED: This selective review presents the main mechanisms controlling prolactin secretion, focusing on the interplay of various neurotransmitters or xenobiotics, but also on the role of psychic or posttraumatic stress. A detailed analysis of several pharmacotherapeutic groups with hyperprolactinemic effects emphasize on the relevance of the pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic mechanisms and the clinical significance of the long term administration...

RATIONALE: Quantitative neuroimaging studies show that different neuroleptics have similar effects on resting metabolism/perfusion in the basal ganglia, but vary in their effect on the cortex, especially in the prefrontal and temporal lobes. These differences may represent signatures of the action of medication on distinctive receptor combinations. OBJECTIVES: This study seeks to determine the effect on cerebral perfusion at rest of low-dose amisulpride, a neuroleptic with a receptor profile relatively selective to dopaminergic D2-receptors and both antidepressant and antipsychotic efficacy...

It is a well-known fact that managing schizophrenia patients as early as possible has a positive impact on the psychopathological and psychosocial outcomes of the disorder. Identifying people at risk for this serious disorder before its outbreak has become a major research aim in the past decade. Consequently, the intuitive notion that intervening at this early stage, before a diagnosis of schizophrenia is established, could be a preventive measure has been scientifically studied. In this context, a number of interventions, both pharmacological and psychosocial, have been evaluated in prospective controlled clinical trials...

Despite its efficacy in treating hepatitis C, interferon-α (IFN-α) can cause depression. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize and discuss the available and effective therapies in treating IFN-α-induced depression. Using PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, Embase, Ovid of Medline, PsycINFO, and ISI Web of Knowledge, we selected 64 articles concerning IFN-α-induced depression treatment in hepatitis C patients. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can be considered the first choice for the treatment of IFN-α-induced depression, as demonstrated in open-label studies, case reports, and a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial...

Depressive symptomatology is an important target of treatment in first episode schizophrenia. This reanalysis of the European First Episode Schizophrenia Trial (EUFEST) describes the depressive symptomatology and the effect of antipsychotic treatment in patients suffering from first episode schizophrenia and schizophreniform disorder randomized to treatment with low dose haloperidol (n=103), amisulpride (n=104), olanzapine (n=105), quetiapine (n=104) or ziprasidone (n=82) for one year. At baseline, the mean score on the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) was 5...

Aripiprazole is a dopamine D/D3 and serotonin 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist which is approved for treatment of schizophrenia. We evaluated the pharmacological properties of aripiprazole, dopamine D2 receptor partial agonists and antipsychotics using forskolin-stimulated cAMP accumulation in cells expressing human dopamine D2 and D3 receptors. In cells expressing high densities of D2 receptor with high sensitivity for dopamine, the maximal agonist effects of partial agonists were higher than in cells expressing low densities of D2 receptor with low sensitivity for dopamine...

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by chronic generalized pain associated with different somatic symptoms, such as sleep disturbances, fatigue, stiffness, balance problems, hypersensitivity to physical and psychological environmental stimuli, depression and anxiety. It has been estimated to affect roughly the 2-4% of the general population in most countries studied, and it has been shown to be much more prevalent in women than in men. Although its pathophysiology is not yet fully understood, it is known that both genetic and environmental factors are involved in its development...

OBJECTIVE: Numerous case reports (53 between 1994 and 2003) caused concern with manic/hypomanic symptoms induced by atypical antipsychotic (AA) drugs. Its clinical relevance and causal link with AA antidepressant properties are largely unknown. METHOD: We reviewed newly reported cases and clinical studies of AA-induced mania/hypomania between 2004 and 2010 in order to assess its prevalence and relation with mood disorders. Published studies were found through systematic database search (PubMed, Scirus, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Science Direct)...

AIM: The main objective was to identify the occurrence of adverse events associated with amisulpride when combined with antidepressants (ADs). METHODS: A non-interventional questionnaire-based study focussed on identification of occurrence and tolerance of combinations of amisulpride with ADs under common clinical practice conditions. RESULTS: Combinations of amisulpride with ADs were administered to 3178 patients suffering from depression...

INTRODUCTION: Many psychotropic drugs can delay cardiac repolarization and thereby prolong the rate-corrected QT interval (QTc). A prolonged QTc often arouses concern in clinical practice, as it can be followed, in rare cases, by the life-threatening polymorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmia called torsade de pointes (TdP). METHOD: We searched PubMed for pertinent literature on the risk of QTc prolongation and/or TdP associated with commonly used psychotropic drugs...

OBJECTIVE: To study the cost-effectiveness of four alternative treatments for burning mouth syndrome (BMS). METHODS: A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted from a healthcare payer perspective of four therapy strategies (amisulpride, paroxetine, sertraline and topical clonazepam), using a decision-tree model that incorporated direct healthcare costs and probabilities associated with the possible events and outcomes. Average cost-effectiveness and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were calculated...

BACKGROUND: Clozapine (CLZ) is not effective in more than 50% of treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients. In these cases, several pharmacological strategies are used in clinical practice, with different levels of evidence for both safety and efficacy. OBJECTIVES: In the present paper we critically reviewed literature data regarding the efficacy and safety of adjunctive agents in CLZ-resistant schizophrenics. The following classes of agents were considered: 1) antipsychotics, 2) antidepressants, 3) mood stabilizers, 4) other agents (e...

Psychopharmaca are used in treatment of psychiatric illnesses and disorders, among other therapeutic possibilities. The choice of the psychopharmaca is determined by the specific psychopathology of the patient, within the diagnostic categories, according to the current classification of diseases and disorders. With the advances in pharmaco industry, the range of drugs used in the everyday clinical practice is occurring at a very rapid pace. Antipsychotic medications are used in treatment of mainly psychotic disorders...