Abstract
It is an important premise of neuropharmacological research that if a treatment is of proven clinical efficacy, then study of its mechanism of effect in animals may shed light both on its fundamental therapeutic action and upon the molecular pathology of the disease for which it is effective. In the case of antidepressant treatments, we have good evidence that electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective in treating severe depressive illness (Brandon et al., 1984) and administration of repeated electroconvulsive shock (ECS) in rats and mice increases 5-hydroxytryptamine- (5-HT) mediated behavioural responses and [3H]-spiperone binding to the presumed 5-HT2 receptor in frontal cortex of rats (Evans et al., 1976; Lebrecht & Nowak, 1980; Vetulani et al., 1981; Kellar et al., 1981; Green et al., 1983a; 1983b).
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Green, A.R., Nimgaonkar, V.L., Goodwin, G.M. (1984). β-Adrenoceptor agonists, ECT and other antidepressants: effects on serotonin biochemistry and function. In: Paton, W., Mitchell, J., Turner, P., Padgham, C., Ashcroft, E. (eds) IUPHAR 9th International Congress of Pharmacology London 1984. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17615-1_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17615-1_18
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