pubmed-article:16934772 | pubmed:abstractText | Atypical antipsychotic drugs have been used in depressed patients not responding adequately to the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The aim of the current study was to investigate putative mechanisms of the beneficial effect of atypical antipsychotic drugs during their co-administration with SSRIs. In previous electrophysiological studies, it was found that SSRIs decrease, while atypical antipsychotics increase, norepinephrine neuronal firing. Thus, the resistance to SSRIs could be explained, at least in part, by the SSRI-induced decrease of norepinephrine neuronal firing activity, and the beneficial effect of atypical antipsychotic drugs could be explained by the reversal of the above-mentioned suppression of firing. | lld:pubmed |