Aren't we fortunate that for OCD there is a product that does not produce the
untoward side effects of strong medications and actually works better?
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Jan;26(1):21-32.
Defining the neuromolecular action of myo-inositol: application to
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Harvey BH, Brink CB, Seedat S, Stein DJ.
Division of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences,
Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, South Africa.
[email hidden]
Dietary inositol is incorporated into neuronal cell membranes as inositol
phospholipids where it serves as a key metabolic precursor in G protein-coupled
receptors. In the brain, several subtypes of adrenergic, cholinergic,
serotonergic and metabotropic glutamatergic receptors are coupled to the
hydrolysis of phosphoinositides (PI) with myo-inositol (MI) crucial to the
resynthesis of PI and the maintenance and effectiveness of signalling. Despite
a mode of action that remains illusive, MI has demonstrated therapeutic
efficacy in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), putative OCD-spectrum
disorders, as well as panic and depression. Behavioural and biochemical studies
indicate that this efficacy does not involve simply the replenishing of the
membrane PI pool. In addition to its precursory role in cell signalling,
inositol lipids alter receptor sensitivity, can direct membrane trafficking
events, and have been found to modulate an increasing array of signalling
proteins. These effects may afford MI an ability to modulate the interaction
between neurotransmitters, drugs, receptors and signalling proteins. This paper
reviews the neuromolecular and genetic aspects of OCD in terms of the PI-linked
5HT receptor subtypes and relates these to the behavioural and therapeutic
effects of MI. Since OCD often is poorly responsive to current drug treatment,
understanding the neuropharmacology of MI holds great promise for understanding
the neuropathology of this and other MI-responsive disorders.
PMID: 11853115
BL
"As the waves pass the rock, their shape is changed. There is a hologram of
the rock within the wave that comes forward and crashes on the beach, then
there's a reflected wave back." Ralph Abraham
"I'd like to learn to windsurf." BL