Title: Therapeutic Potential of 5-HT2C Receptor Antagonists in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders
Volume: 2
Issue: 6
Author(s): Martyn D. Wood
Affiliation:
Keywords:
5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-ht, anxiety, antagonists
Abstract: Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric illness affecting both adults and children. Following the observation that m-chlorophenylpiperazine(mCPP) induced anxiety-like states in patients and in animal models, it was shown that in man, mCPP behaves as a functionally selective agonist at the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)2C receptor. This caused much interest in the development of antagonists at the 5-HT2C receptor for the treatment of anxiety disorders. This review examines the pre-clinical and clinical evidence for a role of the 5-HT2C receptor in anxiety and evaluates the progress of compounds that target this therapeutic approach.
