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Novel Therapeutics for Depression: L-methylfolate as a Trimonoamine Modulator and Antidepressant-Augmenting Agent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Stephen M. Stahl
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Extract

Folate deficiency may increase the risk of depression and reduce the action of antidepressants. Individuals with an inherited polymorphism that reduces the efficiency of folate formation may be at high risk for folate deficiency and for major depression. Antidepressant effects have been reported when antidepressants are augmented with folic acid, folinic acid, or the centrally active L-methylfolate (known formally as (6(S)-5-methyltetrahydrofolate [MTHF]), particularly in depressed patients with folate deficiency whose major depressive episodes have failed to respond to antidepressants. The putative mechanism of action of MTHF as an augmenting agent to antidepressants is that it acts as a trimonoamine modulator (TMM), enhancing the synthesis of the three monoamines: dopamine (DA), norepinephrine (NE), and serotonin (5-HT), resulting in a boost to the efficacy of antidepressants.

Type
Trends in Psychopharmacology
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 12 , Issue 10 , October 2007 , pp. 739 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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