Benjamin J, Agam G, Levine J, Bersudsky Y, Kofman O, Belmaker R H
Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel.
Psychopharmacol Bull. 1995;31(1):167-75.
Inositol, a naturally occurring isomer of glucose, is a key intermediate of the phosphatidyl-inositol (PI) cycle, a second-messenger system used by several noradrenergic, serotonergic and cholinergic receptors. The suggestion that lithium might treat mania via its reduction of inositol levels led to experiments showing that pharmacological doses of peripheral inositol reverse behavioral effects of lithium in animals and side effects of lithium in man. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of inositol are low in depression. An open-label, add-on trial of inositol in depression suggested a beneficial effect. In a subsequent 1-month, parallel-groups, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 28 patients, inositol was effective as sole therapy for depression (p = .043). Inositol was also effective for panic disorder in a double-blind, random-assignment, placebo-controlled crossover study of 21 patients, with 4 weeks in each phase (p = .02); the effect was comparable to that of imipramine in recent studies.
肌醇是葡萄糖的天然同分异构体，是磷脂酰肌醇（PI）循环的关键中间体，PI循环是一种由多种去甲肾上腺素能、5-羟色胺能和胆碱能受体使用的第二信使系统。锂可能通过降低肌醇水平来治疗躁狂症这一观点引发了一些实验，这些实验表明，药理剂量的外周肌醇可逆转锂对动物行为的影响以及锂对人体的副作用。抑郁症患者脑脊液（CSF）中的肌醇水平较低。一项关于肌醇治疗抑郁症的开放标签附加试验显示出有益效果。在随后一项针对28名患者的为期1个月的平行组双盲安慰剂对照研究中，肌醇作为抑郁症的单一疗法有效（p = 0.043）。在一项针对21名患者的双盲随机分配安慰剂对照交叉研究中，肌醇对惊恐障碍也有效，每个阶段为期4周（p = 0.02）；在最近的研究中，其效果与丙咪嗪相当。
