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Effect of electroconvulsive shock on monoaminergic receptor binding sites in rat brain

Nature volume 278, pages 464–466 (1979)Cite this article

Abstract

CHRONIC administration of either tricyclic antidepressant drugs or monoamine oxidase inhibitors, which are effective in the treatment of endogenous depression, has been shown to decrease the sensitivity of nor adrenaline (NA)-stimulated adenylate cyclase1–5 and to decrease the apparent density of β-adrenergic receptor binding sites in rat brain6–10. This alteration in receptor mechanisms by antidepressant drugs seems to be selective, as neither α-adrenergic nor serotonergic receptor binding in rat cortex is altered by the tricyclic drug desipramine7. It is therefore of interest to know whether other forms of antidepressant intervention alter receptor mechanisms in the brain and if so, whether they display a time course and selectivity similar to that of antidepressant drugs. Here, we have investigated the effects of a single and of multiple electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) on rat brain monoaminergic receptor binding sites and report that the density of β-adrenergic receptors is decreased.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Georgetown University, Schools of Medicine and Dentistry, Washington, DC, 20007

    DEBRA A. BERGSTROM & KENNETH J. KELLAR

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  1. DEBRA A. BERGSTROM
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  2. KENNETH J. KELLAR
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BERGSTROM, D., KELLAR, K. Effect of electroconvulsive shock on monoaminergic receptor binding sites in rat brain. Nature 278, 464–466 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/278464a0

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