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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

The Forced Swim Test as a Model of Depressive-like Behavior
Published on: March 2, 2015
Pharmacogenetics of antidepressive treatment
1Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Abstract:
The search of the genetic predictors of response to antidepressants is a rapidly expanding field. A large number of clinical studies are reporting partly inconsistent results. Emerging new results focus on new candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms--particularly in the 5HT2a-receptor gene and the gene coding for the co-chaperone FKBP5. The impact of the 5HTTLPR polymorphism on therapeutic outcome and side effects under treatment with SSRIs has to be viewed in a more complex manner than previously proposed. All replicable genetic associations display only a very modest effect. Despite of enormous research efforts, currently pharmacogenetics of therapeutic effects and of side effects of antidepressants are unable to guide decisions on the selection of the most beneficial drug for an individual patient.
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