Posted by Mitch on June 18, 2001, at 10:20:36
Anybody had any success with this for ADHD or as an augmentor for anergic bipolar depression?? It looks like it might be helpful. Any input would be nice. This is available in the US. Obviously from what I found in the monograph (excerpt below) it isn't an alpha-1 agonist after all. Hmmm.
In vitro, modafinil binds to the dopamine reuptake site and causes an increase in extracellular dopamine, but no increase in dopamine release. In a preclinical model, the wakefulness induced by amphetamine, but not modafinil, is antagonized by the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol.
Modafinil does not appear to be a direct or indirect alpha-adrenergic agonist. Although modafinil-induced wakefulness can be attenuated by the a1-adrenergic receptor antagonist, prazosin, in assay systems known to be responsive to a1-adrenergic agonists, modafinil has no activity. Modafinil does not display sympathomimetic activity in the rat vas deferens preparations (agonist-stimulated or electrically stimulated) nor does it increase the formation of the adrenergic receptor-mediated second messenger phosphatidyl inositol in in vitro models. Unlike sympathomimetic agents, modafinil does not reduce cataplexy in narcoleptic canines and has minimal effects on cardiovascular and hemodynamic parameters.
In the cat, equal wakefulness-promoting doses of methylphenidate and amphetamine increased neuronal activation throughout the brain. Modafinil at an equivalent wakefulness-promoting dose selectively and prominently increased neuronal activation in more discrete regions of the brain.The relationship of this finding in cats to the effects of modafinil in humans is unknown.
poster:Mitch
thread:66963
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010618/msgs/66963.html