Mechanism of Action
Sertraline is primarily a serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI), with a binding affinity (Ki) of 3.3 nM. Therapeutic doses of sertraline (50–200 mg/day) taken by patients for four weeks resulted in 80–90% inhibition of serotonin transporter (SERT) in striatum as measured by positron emission tomography. A daily 9 mg dose was sufficient to inhibit 50% of SERT.
Sertraline is also a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, with a Ki=315 nM, a σ1 receptor agonist with 5% of its SRI potency, and an α1-adrenoreceptor antagonist with 1–10% of its SRI potency. However, though confirming sertraline's high affinity for σ1 receptors, different studies suggest that the drug actually behaves as an antagonist at those.
Sertraline demonstrated anti-fungal activity against Candida species in vivo.
Read more about this topic: Selectra
Famous quotes containing the words mechanism of, mechanism and/or action:
“A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 2 (1962)
“The law isn’t justice. It’s a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may show up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“Virtue is the adherence in action to the nature of things, and the nature of things makes it prevalent. It consists in a perpetual substitution of being for seeming, and with sublime propriety God is described as saying, I A—.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)