Anxiolytic drug

Cheetham, SC and Heal, DJ (2000) Antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs. In Biological Psychiatry (Eds Bittar, EE and Bittar, N), JAI Press, Stanford, CT, pp. 551-567. 

Argyropoulous SV, Sandford JJ and Nutt DJ (2000). The psychobiology of anxiolytic drugs. Part 2 Pharmacological treatments of anxiety. Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 88, 213-227. 

Substituted isoindolinones feature in a number of anxiolytic drugs (e.g., Fig. 3) and this led us to devise a general three-component cascade for accessing this pharmacophore (Scheme 8) (Gai et al. 2003b, 2005). 

Anxiolytic drugs. Medications that treat anxiety, usually tranquilizers. 

The most effective treatment for anxiety disorders is the use of anxiolytic drugs. True or False ... 

Other serotonergic drugs that are direct receptor agonists or antagonists have been found to have anxiolytic effects (Stahl 1998 Bonhomme and Esposito 1998). A novel class of anxiolytic drugs called azapirones act as partial agonists at 5-HTlA receptors (Yocca 1990). Clinically, they are represented by BuSpar, which was approved for use in 1986 (Eison... 

Alkaline hydrolysis of the hypnotic/anxiolytic drug diazepam yields 2-methylamino-5-chlorobenzophenone and its imine, via a dioxide intermediate. ... 

A further discussion of the pharmacological properties of the anxiolytic drugs is given in Chapter 9. 

Related hypnotics that also act at benzodiazepine receptors are the newer agents zolpidem, a imida-zopyridine, zaleplon a pyrazolopyrimidine and the cyclopyrrolone zopiclone. Zopiclone might have a role for the treatment of benzodiazepine addiction. In patients in whom zopiclone was substituted for a benzodiazepine for 1 month and then itself abmptly terminated, improved sleep was reported during the zopiclone treatment, and withdrawal effects were absent on discontinuation of zopiclone. A series of non-sedating anxiolytic drugs derived from the same structural families as the above mentioned nonbenzodiazepines, have been developed, such as alpi-dem and pagoclone. 

Food intake is considered a reliable indicator for the anxiolytic properties of drugs. Rodents usually are reluctant to eat unknown food (Boissier et al. 1976 Soubrie et al. 1975). When both famiUar and unknown food are presented, rodents will typically show a longer latency to the first intake of imknown food compared to the intake of famihar food. Anxiolytic drugs not only reverse this food intake inhibition (Fletcher and Davies 1990 Hodges et al. 1981) but also result in an increased consiunption of food (Britton and Britton 1981). 

Referred to as a conditioned fear paradigm, the fear potentiated startle response was first described by Brown et al. (1951). In the original test, an acoustic stimulus is presented in the presence of a conditioned stimulus that has previously been paired with an aversive, unconditioned stimulus. The amplitude of the acoustic startle response is thought to indicate the degree of conditioned anxiety, which can be reduced by anxiolytic drugs (Davis et al. 1993 Hijzen et al. 1995). 

Boissier JR, Simon P, Soubrie P (1976) New approaches to the study of anxiety and anxiolytic drugs in animals. In Airaksinen M (ed) CNS and behavioral pharmacology. Pergamon Press, New York, pp 213-222... 

Bourin M, Hascoet M (2003) The mouse light/dark box test. Em J Pharmacol 463 55-65 Britton DR, Britton KT (1981) A sensitive open field measure of anxiolytic drug activity. 

Hijzen TH, Houtzager SW, Joordens RJ, Olivier B, Slangen JL (1995) Predictive validity of the potentiated startle response as a behavioral model for anxiolytic drugs. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 118 150-154... 

Rupniak NM, Carlson EJ, Webb JK, Harrison T, Porsolt RD, Roux S, de Felipe C, Hunt SP, Oates B, Wheeldon A (2001) Comparison of the phenotype of NKIR-/- mice with pharmacological blockade of the substance P (NKl) receptor in assays for antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs. Behav Pharmacol 12 497-508 Saffroy M, Torrens Y, Glowinski J, Beaujouan JC (2001) Presence of NK2 binding sites in the rat brain. J Neurochem 79 985-996... 

The SSRls as a class are now widely considered to be appropriate first-line anxiolytic drugs in particular paroxetine, the most potent 5-HT reuptake blocker, has been licensed in the UK for the treatment of each of the major anxiety disorders. Short-term efficacy has been clearly demonstrated in randomised controlled trials, but in common with other antidepressants, research evidence is lacking for long-term efficacy and necessary duration of treatment. 

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