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Obsessive compulsive disorder: Opportunities within and beyond the serotonergic domain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

J. Zohar  and
Y. Sasson
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Extract

Abnormality of the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine – 5-HT) system and particularly hypersensitivity of postsynaptic 5-HT receptors remained the leading hypothesis for the underlying pathophysiology of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) during the 1980s. A number of lines of evidence supported this serotonergic hypothesis, not least the treatment studies which demonstrated clearly and consistently that anti-obsessional efficacy was a function of serotonin re-uptake inhibition. Studies of markers and biological probes provided further evidence: platelet studies, for example, linked reductions in 5-HT activity with clinical response, and treatment response was correlated with decreased 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5-HIAA) levels within the cerebrospinal fluid of OCD patients.

Added to this was the evidence from the behavioral or physiological responses observed following serotonergic challenge with the serotonin agonists meta-chlorophenylpiperazine, a compound with high affinity for 5-HT1A-, 5-HT1D- and 5-HT2C-receptors.

Keywords

OCDserotonindopamine
Type
Research Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 84 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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