Functional aspects of the norepinephrine receptor coupled adenylate cyclase system in the limbic forebrain and its modification by drugs which precipitate or alleviate depression: molecular approaches to an understanding of affective disorders.

The results provide evidence for a central postsynaptic regulatory mechanism involving the noradrenergic receptor coupled adenylate cyclase system. This particular system in the limbic forebrain displays properties of an adrenergic receptor with partial beta characteristics. Drugs which either can precipitate or alleviate depression in man cause time dependent opposite changes in the reactivity of this receptor system. It is tempting to speculate that depression-prone patients may have catecholamine receptors in limbic and possibly other brain structures with heightened responsiveness and that successful treatment requires desensitization of enhanced noradrenergic receptor function thus causing a reduction in the postulated amplificational mechanism that translates sensory input eventually into physiological and behavioral events.