Method fo assessing antidepressant drug therapy via transport inhibition of monoamine neurotransmitters
AssigneeEmory University
InventorsMichael J. Owens, Charles B. Nemeroff
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Abstract
A method of measuring the individual response to antidepressant drug therapy on the transport inhibition of monoamine neurotransmitters involves in vitro monitoring of radiolabeled monoamine neurotransmitter transport into cells transfected with transport proteins similar to those on neural cells of the individual being studied. The transport occurs in unbuffered serum of the individual who is undergoing or will later undergo pharmaceutical treatment for depression or other neuropsychiatric disorders. The use of buffers is avoided so that the sensitive balance of bound/free drug within the individuals serum is not disrupted prior to or during testing.
Claims11
An assay method for identifying the efficacy of antidepressant drugs which inhibit the cellular uptake of monoamine neurotransmitters, comprising
- obtaining a buffer-free serum sample from an individual undergoing treatment with one or more antidepressant drug;
- obtaining a cell culture having neurotransmitter transport characteristics similar to the neurotransmitter transport characteristic within neural cells of said individual;
- maintaining the cell culture within the buffer-free drug-containing serum;
- introducing a labeled dose of monoamine neurotransmitter to the drug-containing serum;
- and
- measuring the uptake of labeled neurotransmitter into cells of the culture.
An assay method for identifying the efficacy of antidepressant drugs which inhibit the cellular uptake of monoamine neurotransmitters, comprising
- obtaining a buffer-free serum sample from an individual undergoing treatment with one or more monoamine neurotransmitter reuptake inhibitor;
- obtaining a cell culture having neurotransmitter transport characteristics similar to the neurotransmitter transport characteristic within neural cells of said individual;
- maintaining the cell culture within the buffer-free inhibitor-containing serum;
- introducing a labeled dose of monoamine neurotransmitter to the drug-containing serum;
- and
- monitoring the uptake of labeled neurotransmitter into cells of the culture.
An assay method for identifying the efficacy of antidepressant drugs which inhibit the cellular uptake of monoamine neurotransmitters, comprising the step of
- measuring the uptake of labeled monoamine neurotransmitter into cells of a culture while maintaining the culture in a buffer-free serum sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.