Aileen Bailey, professor of psychology and neuroscience minor coordinator, has published the article, “Chronic Fluoxetine Treatment In vivo Enhances Excitatory Synaptic Transmission in the Hippocampus,” in the journal Neuropharmacology.
In this article, Bailey and her co-authors address the effects of chronic fluoxetine treatment – the most commonly prescribed antidepressant medication - and the prolonged elevation of serotonin that is used when treating depression, a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) produce their therapeutic effects by elevating concentrations of serotonin. Although this elevation occurs rapidly, there is a delay of weeks-to-months of continuous treatment before most patients experience meaningful relief of their depressive symptoms.
