A newer class of antidepressants, the SSRIs has effected an almost revolutionary change in the treatment of depression. The SSRIs inhibit serotonin reuptake, whereas older antidepressants act primarily through the dopamine and norepinephrine pathways. The history of SSRIs is a much more recent one, and more direct. Instead of discovering the drugs that elicit the common antidepressant action by accident like the drugs had been discovered in the past, in the mid-1970s, researchers went out to specifically find a drug that would inhibit the reuptake of serotonin into the presynaptic neuron. All the questions that were trying to be answered were, and the SSRIs became a hit on the market, and are still popular today.
Monoamine oxidase is described as a complex enzyme system, widely distributed throughout the body.
Drugs that inhibit MAO in the laboratory are associated with a number of clinical effects. Thus, it is unknown whether MAO inhibition, other pharmacological actions, or an interaction of both is responsible for the clinical effects observed. This drug has been found to be effective in the treatment of depressed patients. These patients often have mixed anxiety and depression and phobic or hypochondriacal features. It has been recommended that Nardil should not be the first antidepressant drug used.