Escitalopram May Protect Against Neurotoxins Linked With Dementia
Patients with major depressive disorder treated with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) escitalopram experienced significant drops in the levels of 2 neurotoxic compounds that can cause memory loss and dementia. In addition, 80% of participants who completed the study reported full or partial relief from depressive symptoms.
Researchers published their findings in The Journal of Psychiatric Research.
The study focused on the inflammatory response of 30 patients with major depressive disorder, although 10 dropped out over the course of the 12-week investigation. At the study’s start, researchers measured participants’ blood levels of 9 substances secreted by the immune system and compared them with 27 healthy control subjects. All 9 substances were higher in patients with major depression, they found.
Researchers then initiated treatment with escitalopram.
Between week 8 and week 12, levels of 3-hydroxykynurenine decreased by more than two-thirds in participants, researchers reported. Meanwhile, levels of quinolinic acid decreased by half during the first 8 weeks, and they remained lower at the study’s end than at the start.
“The results indicate that escitalopram may exert its antidepressant effect in part through inhibition of synthesis of certain neurotoxic kynurenine metabolites and possibly also through reduction of the inflammatory response, although there was no concordance in the time course of changes between antidepressant efficacy and reversal of the pro-inflammatory status,” researchers wrote.
Noting that the small size of the study was a limitation, investigators said the results should generate interest in studying effects in larger groups over a longer time span.
—Jolynn Tumolo
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