Quetiapine Fumarate information
Quetiapine fumarate is a pharmaceutical drug used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia. Quetiapine is also used to treat bipolar disorder. Quetiapine fumarate is in a class of medications called atypical antipsychotics. It works by changing the activity of certain natural substances in the brain.
Quetiapine Prevents Anhedonia
Induced by Acute or Chronic Stress.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2007 Jan 10; Orsetti M, Canonico PL, Dellarole A,
Colella L, Di Brisco F, Ghi P. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Alimentari,
Farmaceutiche e Farmacologiche (DiSCAFF), Universita del Piemonte Orientale 'A.
Avogadro', Novara, Italy Drug and Food Biotechnology Center, Universita del
Piemonte Orientale 'A. Avogadro', Novara, Italy.
The role of atypical antipsychotics as add-on treatments and as primary mood
stabilizers in different phases of bipolar disorder is an important current
research area. Although in bipolar patients the main therapeutic indication of
quetiapine is the management of acute mania, several observations suggest that
this agent may exert antidepressant as well as antimanic effects. However, in
our knowledge, there are no preclinical studies supporting this hypothesis.
Thus, the main goal of the present work was to evaluate the putative
antidepressant effect of quetiapine (0.4, 2.0, or 10 mg/kg/day), in comparison
to amitriptyline (2 or 5 mg/kg/day), in rats exposed to acute or chronic stress.
The administration of quetiapine, 2 mg/kg/day, prevents the onset of anhedonia
in rats exposed to a 6-week chronic mild stress (CMS) protocol. The effect of
quetiapine has a slow onset, beginning at week 5, and causes a complete recovery
from anhedonia. In this respect, the effect of quetiapine is similar to that
obtained after chronic administration of AMI 2 or 5 mg/kg/day. Our findings also
indicate that a 6-week administration of QTP, 2 or 10 mg/kg/day, has protective
effects against the onset of anhedonia caused by the exposure to an acute
subthreshold stressful event in rats that have previously experienced the CMS
procedure. The results suggest that quetiapine is able to prevent both the
transient mood depression caused by acute stress and the long-lasting anhedonic
state induced by exposure, over a period of weeks, to a variety of unpredictable
mild stressors.
Comments: Natural options that could also be helpful in anhedonia
include SAM-e, St. John's wort, and other herbs and nutrients.
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