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Agomelatine: an agent against anhedonia and abulia?

Journal of Neural Transmission volume 122, pages 3–7 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Anhedonia and abulia are syndromes often presented as components of various psychiatric and neurological disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, stroke, multiple sclerosis and brain injury. On the basis of the hypothesis that alterations in the dopaminergic motivational system might be involved in the etiopathogenesis of these clinical phenomena, the antidepressant agomelatine is a highly interesting candidate substance for their treatment because of its indirect dopaminergic effects resulting from its melatoninergic and partial anti-serotoninergic properties. Systematic clinical studies are urgently needed to test the hypothesis that agomelatine might be a clinically useful and versatile anti-anhedonic and/or anti-abulic substance.

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Acknowledgments

J.T. has received financial support from Servier, the manufacturer of agomelatine (as a member of the German advisory board, for organising and attending conferences and for conducting a survey). He has also received financial support from the following companies, some of which are manufacturers of other antidepressants: Actelion, Ever, Lilly, Lundbeck, Medice, Merz, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Trommsdorff.

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  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany

    J. Thome & P. Foley

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  1. J. Thome
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  2. P. Foley
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Correspondence to J. Thome.

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Thome, J., Foley, P. Agomelatine: an agent against anhedonia and abulia?. J Neural Transm 122 (Suppl 1), 3–7 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-013-1126-6

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