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 for bipolar disorder
Quetiapine for the treatment of bipolar mania in older adults.
Bipolar Disord. 2008 Sep; Sajatovic M, Calabrese JR, Mullen J. Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.
A post hoc analysis of pooled data from two quetiapine monotherapy clinical trials was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine therapy (twice daily, 400-800 mg/day) among bipolar manic adults aged 55 years and older. This secondary analysis suggests that quetiapine represents a potentially useful treatment option among older adults with bipolar I mania. Studies with a primary focus of geriatric bipolar mania, and including larger patient numbers, are needed to confirm these findings.

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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