Dopamine and depression: a review of recent evidence. III. The effects of antidepressant treatments

Abstract

This paper reviews the effects of antidepressants on brain dopamine (DA) function in people and animals. Acute antidepressant treatments have no consistent effect on DA. Chronic treatment does not appear to change DA synthesis or turnover, or to affect post-synaptic DA receptors. However, there is considerable evidence of increased DA function following chronic antidepressant treatments; the site of these effects is at present unclear, but appears to be beyond the DA receptors. There is also evidence for decreased sensitivity of pre-synaptic DA autoreceptors, though this effect is less well established.