Reevaluation of the indoleamine hypothesis of depression. Evidence for a reduction of functional activity of central 5-HT systems by antidepressant drugs.

The effects of antidepressant drugs on central 5-HT receptor activity were studied in rats and mice. Antidepressant drugs were evaluated for their ability to displace 3H-5-HT and 3H-d-LSD from membrane binding sites in the dorsal neocortex of rats in vitro and for their ability to block 5-HTP and d-LSD induced behavioral effects in mice. The degree of blockade of head-twitches in mice produced by the antidepressants was highly correlated with their affinity for 3H-d-LSD binding sites. A number of antidepressant drugs such as amitriptyline, nortriptyline, mianserine, doxepine, nomifensine and dibenzepine appear to possess marked 5-HT receptor blocking activity at some type of 5-HT receptors in brain. New antidepressant drugs such as zimelidine, which specifically inhibit 5-HT reuptake and do not block 5-HT receptor sites, may after chronic treatment also reduce the functional activity of 5-HT systems by producing adaptive changes in postsynaptic 5-HT mechanisms. Thus, a new indoleamine hypothesis of depression is presented: the therapeutic action of antidepressant drugs may in part be due to a reduced functional acitivity of some central 5-HT systems.