Biological depressants

These so-called depressive characters likely have suffered from a form of chronic, low-grade biological depression. Similarly, recent reports of successful treatment of social anxiety in "avoidant personalities" using MAO inhibitors may indicate another group of patients whose character pathology seems to be rooted in a type of biochemical disturbance. 

These symptoms are commonly referred to as vegetative or neurovegetative symptoms. Not only are these symptoms a marker of biological depression, they also serve as... 

Clearly, these models aU have merit in helping to tease out complex factors that can contribute to the development of depression. These psychological causes also very likely influence much of what goes on in the so-called biologic depressions. However, the focus of this section is limited to a discussion of current theories of biological causation—causes that either imderlie or contribute to the development of the biologic-based depressions listed above. 

Table 2.1 Correlation oflipid/water partition coefficients with biological depression (suppression of motility of tadpoles)...

Although the action of chlorpromazine is so powerful and calming, it does not cloud consciousness, a distinction from the general biological depressants of... 

General biological depressants (hypnotics, general anaesthetics, and volatile insecticides). 611... 

General biological depressants are substantially non-ionized substances. They may be hydrocarbons (aliphatic or aromatic), chlorinated hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers, ketones, sulfones, weak acids, weak bases, or aliphatic nitrocompounds. Aldehydes, esters, strong acids, and strong bases usually act differently. Many hypotheses have been put forward to explain the action of depressants, and these will be briefly reviewed here. 

Kurt Meyer, a son of Hans Meyer, refined and extended his father s work (Meyer and Hemmi, 1935). Table 15.2 shows a selection of these authors correlations of partition coefficients with biological depression. Because the test-object is a non-mammalian vertebrate, and most of the tested substances are not used in human medicine, these results help to show how widely the principle extends. In Table 15.2, substances of widely different partition coefficients were studied, so that the biologically effective concentration has to be considered. To estimate the concentration of the agent in the cell lipids, results in the first two columns of figures have been multiplied. The products, in the last column, are uniform over a twofold span. Yet earlier results, in which olive oil was used as the lipid, were more variable but led to the same conclusion (see... 

CORRELATION OF LIPID/WATER PARTITION COEFFICIENTS WITH BIOLOGICAL DEPRESSION (SUPPRESSION OF MOTILITY OF TADPOLES)... 

For a discussion of physical mechanisms in biological depressants and convulsants, see Shulman and Laycock (1967) Mautner and Clem-son (1970). 

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