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Volume transmission as a mechanism of time-dependent sensitization to antidepressant therapy
1Brain Sciences Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria, Australia. pnathan@bsi.swin.edu.au
Medical Hypotheses
|June 27, 2000
Abstract:
Administration of certain drugs such as antidepressants have been shown to produce a phenomenon known as time-dependent sensitization, a process in which the acute effects of the drugs sensitize and grow over time. While both preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated time-dependent sensitization, it is still uncertain how it occurs. It is possible that the mechanism by which time-dependent sensitization occurs may be via a type of transmission in the brain known as volume transmission. Signals released via this transmission have properties that may explain the process of time-dependent sensitization.