Mood action

All barbiturates have essentially die same mode of action. Depending on the dose given, tiiese drags are capable of producing central nervous system (CNS) depression and mood alteration ranging from mild excitation to mild sedation, hypnosis (sleep), and deep coma These drugs also are respiratory depressants the degree of depression... 

The precise mechanism through which benzodiazepines and barbiturates produce mood elevation remains to be elucidated. The mood-elevating effect of the benzodiazepines and barbiturates is probably mediated not only by acute increases in the actions of GABA but also by neural connections from... 

Iversen (1991) stresses the need for some in vivo testing for neurotoxicity and emphasizes the value of sensitive behavioral tests. Behavioral tests are described for mice and rats, which provide measures of mood, posture, CNS excitation, motor coordination, sedation, exploration, responsiveness, learning, and memory function. Such assays can function as primary screens for neurotoxicity before adopting a stepwise scheme of in vitro tests to discover more about the initial site of action of neurotoxic compounds. It is argued that the requirement for animal testing can be drastically reduced by adopting structured in vitro protocols such as these. 

The first mood stabilizer was lithium (its antimanic action being discovered in 1948) more recently the anticonvulsant drugs carbamazepine and valproate have been found to be effective in acute mania. Unfortunately these mood stabilizers are only successful in controlling mania to a limited extent and few patients are well enough to leave hospital at the end of 3 weeks of treatment using these drugs as monotherapy. It is increasingly common for combination treatment to be advocated, in which an antipsychotic dmg is combined with lithium or an anticonvulsant. 

Barden, N, Reul, JMHM and Holsboer, F (1995) Do antidepressants stabilize mood through actions on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system Trends Neurosci. 18 6-10. 

Delgado, PL, Miller, HE, Salomon, RM, Licinio, J, Heninger, GR, Gelenberg, AJ and Charney, DS (1993) Monoamines and the mechanism of antidepressant action effects of catecholamine depletion on mood of patients treated with antidepressants. Psychopharmacol. Bull. 29 389-396. 

Mechanism of Action The mechanism of action of carbamazepine is not well understood. It blocks ion channels and inhibits sustained repetitive neuronal excitation, but whether this explains its effect as a mood-stabilizing drug is not known.32... 

Estradiol also induces synapses in the hippocampus and this contributes to enhanced capacity for learning and memory that is dependent on the hippocampus [13]. Estradiol exerts many other nonreproductive actions on the brain, such as fine motor coordination, seizure susceptibility, mood, protection from ischemic damage. Many of these actions occur in brain regions that show little, if any, nuclear estrogen receptors, and it seems likely that the nongenomic estrogen receptor described above may be involved [13]. 

There is evidence for the contribution of serotonin dysfunction to mania, and in the mechanism of action of mood stabilizers [19], however, specific data on the serotonergic system and mania are fewer and variable. Moreover, altered functioning of other neurotransmitters in mania such as norepinephrine, dopamine, acetylcholine, and GABA, and their interaction with serotonin, are also likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of mood disorders. Differences in these neurotransmitter systems possibly underlie differences in the pathogenesis of depressive and manic episodes. 

Shiah, I. S. and Yatham, L. N. Serotonin in mania and in the mechanism of action of mood stabilizers a review of clinical studies. Bipolar Disord. 2 77-92, 2000. 

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