Animal studies early brain structuring

Although sertraline appears to differ structurally from the other SSRIs, it is a phenylaminotetralin, in which the diphenylpropylamine nucleus is constrained into a rigid bicyclic ring system (Fig. 21.13). In the early work with the discovery of SSRIs at Pfizer, tametraline was initially synthesized in 1978. Animal studies showed it to be a stimulant and to block NE and DA uptake, a use that Pfizer was not interested in pursuing. Subsequently, one or two chlorine atoms were introduced into tametraline to produce new molecules that were potent inhibitors of 5-HT reuptake in the brain. One of the dichloro compounds was to become known as sertraline. 

The observations reported in this chapter provide support for, and facilitate the interpretation of, the wealth of data amassed from studies on the olfactory system begun almost 250 years ago (cf. Kleerekoper, 1982) which have dealt with the description of the structure of the olfactory epithelium, the neuroanatomical links between the nose and the brain, the importance of scent and pheromone detection in animal behavior, and with experimentally induced changes in the olfactory system. Much of the work we have presented is in its early phases of study. Thus, this chapter is not meant to be definitive, but rather we hope that by presenting new concepts, approaches and questions, we will serve to instigate study (perhaps with a different direction, scope or emphasis) on the structural and functional interrelationships of the olfactory and reproductive systems in all classes of vertebrates. 

---