5-HT1A Agonists, 5-HT3 Antagonists and Benzodiazepines: Their Comparative Behavioral Pharmacology

5-HT1A Agonists, 5-HT3 Antagonists and Benzodiazepines: Their Comparative Behavioral Pharmacology

RJ Rodgers and SJ Cooper

New York NY: John Wiley, 387 pp, 1991

Dr. Rodgers and Dr. Cooper have done a masterful job in gathering seminal information towards the understanding of the anxiolytic activities of serotonin, agonists, serotonin antagonists and benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines are prescribed extensively in our society for anxiety disorders. Given the addiction potential associated with benzodiazepines, the need is great to find other types of medications to treat patients with anxiety disorders. This book attempts to empirically compare the anxiolytic medications currently available and to provide a focus for continuing research. While the core of the book is devoted to basic science, including a number of chapters on animal models and experimentation, the clinical aspects of pharmacology are not ignored. In chapters 11 and 12, the abuse, dependence and withdrawal potential of benzodiazepines are discussed and in chapter 13, Edward Schweizer and Karl Rickels review the efficacy of serotonergic anxiolytics.

An excellent discussion of benzodiazepine receptors and their ligands is found in the first chapter. In the past ten years there has been an explosion of knowledge in the pharmacology and chemistry of benzodiazepine receptors and we are now able to clone them. This book helps to explain why certain drugs are agonists, antagonists, partial agonists and inverse agonists. The 5-HT receptor family and their ligands, distribution and receptor-effector coupling are covered in the second chapter. Recent information on the anxiolytic effects of serotonergic-type drugs is promising, particularly the 5-T1A agonists and 5-HT3 antagonists.

This text is not meant for recreational reading since it contains a great deal of basic science. The style of writing produces consecutive and somewhat unrelated chapters written by different authors, each an expert in his or her field. Basic scientists will find this text informative and an excellent reference since long lists of articles are given at the end of each chapter. As well, clinicians dealing with anxiety disorders, in particular those who administer benzodiazepines and serotonergic-regulating medication, would benefit from reading this book so as to be able to properly use these medications. Knowledge in this field advances at a rapid rate; this pharmacological review will help both scientists and clinicians keep up-to-date.