Not all antidepressants protect memory equally

The drug escitalopram, the most selective of the serotonin reuptake inhibitors, reverses the symptoms of the emotional memory deficit that accompanies severe depression, Swedish researchers report in Molecular Psychiatry. Treatment with another old-generation antidepressant did not improve memory.

Patients suffering from severe depression, the so-called severe depressive disorder often has various types of cognitive disorders, such as low concentration, lack of decision-making, and impaired emotional memory. Unfortunately, such disorders are difficult to analyze when examining animals.

Per Svenningsson and Therese Eriksson, along with colleagues from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, studied a special strain of rats with symptoms resembling deep depression in humans, including emotional memory disturbances seen in learning to avoid unpleasant stimuli.

Researchers have shown that treating these rats with the most selective of the second-generation serotonin reuptake inhibitors – escitalopram – restores their memory. Treatment with another old-generation antidepressant, nortriptyline, did not improve memory.

Scientists hope that thanks to their research it will be possible to better select drugs for patients who need cognitive restoration. (PAP)

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