Sertraline

Sertraline hydrochloride, also known as Zoloft, is an antidepressant. It treats a variety of "issues", such as depression, obsessive-coompulsive disorder, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder, and social anxiety disorder. It is prescribed by a doctor, and can be taken in mg tablets or a concentrate (liquid) to take by mouth. It's usually taken once daily, or on certain days of the month. When starting the medicine, doctors usually prescribe a gradual increase, such as starting on a low dose and then taking more after a week or so. It needs to be stored in the original container, tightly closed and at room temperature. It can become outdated, and should be thrown away. This drug has the possiblity of these side effects; nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, dry mouth, gas or bloating, loss of appetite, weight changes, drowsiness, dizziness, excessive tiredness, headaches, pain, burning or tingling in the hands or feet, nervousness, uncontrollable shaking of a part of the body, sore throat, and excessive sweating. An overdose of the drug can cause hairloss, drowsiness, rapid pounding or irregular heartbeat, nausea, dizziness, fainting, excitement, seizures, unconsciousness, and hallucinating.

This antidepressant is of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). It has a binding affinity of 3.3 nM, which is talking about how closely the intermolecular bonds are. Sertraline is also a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which is a type of druge that blocks the action of the dopamine transporter, which then leads to an incrased extracellular concentrations of dopamine, leading to an increase in dopaminergic neurotransmission. To sum that up, it blocks the dopamine transporter, making the dopamine stronger, and causing more transmission. The psychological side-effects of this are to be more alteration in consciousness, stimulation, alertness, sociability, goal-oriented thoughts, and/or mood-lift. The creator of this druge was Pfizer chemist Reinhard Sarges. In the 1970's he created many structures of drugs, but they had weaker dopamine reuptake inhibitors, and there was an undesired stimulant effect observed in animals. Another pharmacologist, Kennet Koe, looked into the work again, and involved another Pfizer chemist, Willard Welch, to synthesize the drugs again. Koe then altered the reuptake, to serotonin reuptake inhibitor. Sertraline was approved by the USFDA in 1991, and since 2002 has been approved for children under 18, down to 6 (for severe OCD). Today, it used more than Prozac, and many study's say that it's more effective than Prozac.

Problems that have arisen with Zoloft are a critic of their commercials and what they're claiming and that it can cause users to commit suicide. The advertisement controversy is that there was "no scientific support for the 'serotonin imbalance' theory of depression". The advertisement had originally stated that "while the cause is unknown, depression may be related to an imbalance of natural chemicals between nerve cells in the brain." When the Zoloft advertisement omitted info about the risk of suicidal behavior, they recieved a Warning Letter. The other big controversy was that one of the Columbine High School shooters, Eric Harris, had been taking the drug before switching to Luvox. This was turned around though, because Harris had apparently started to plan the shooting before taking the medication.


 * ~ [[image:http://chem103csu.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=110 width="200" height="110" link="/wiki/File:Sertraline_Structural_Formulae.png"]] ||
 * ~ [[image:http://chem103csu.wikispaces.com/site/embedthumbnail/placeholder?w=200&h=124 width="200" height="124" link="/wiki/File:Sertraline-A-3D-balls.png"]] ||