John, I'm afraid that dopamine receptors are not in the 5HT receptor group! And SSRIs act primarily on the transporters (reuptake carriers), not the pre- or postsynaptic receptors. I guess what you are trying to say is that SSRIs may have actions on both serotonin and dopamine transporters. There is a certain amount of cross reactivity within certain dose ranges of almost any compound acting at monoamine binding sites, be the site a receptor or transporter. Granted, effects on transporters will affect turnover of receptor density though. Sorry if the point seems pedantic to readers:)
But you raise a good point about sexual dysfunction. This is one of the major problems of antidepressants, and as one might imagine, it hardly improves the subjective state of a depressed patient! Another issue is weight gain, which can be substantial with compounds like Zoloft (I'm uncertain about Prozac). If SEPR can demonstrate that the isomer has fewer problems in these regards, it will greatly encourage psychiatrists to prescribe it.
I don't mean to offend any psychiatrists here, but I have done research and teaching in this field off and on for more than 20 years, and psychiatrists are terribly uniformed about the very compounds they prescribe like candy. They are rarely up to date with the basic science, but very sensitive to adverse side effects and overall effectiveness against the disorder (as they should be). If the R isomer proves to have fewer side effects (it's psychotherapeutic potency compared to Prozac is a given), then it will attain instant recognition (and sales).
Mazen - we're trying to keep the board clean over at Yahoo, but with the recent shorters in, what can one do... Teabury doesn't have the power of a moderator, afterall..! The short interest/daytraders here will dry up fairly soon, IMO, and we'll be back to business as usual on Yahoo. |
