0000000000312290
AUTHOR
Manfred Gerlach
Dose-Related Concentrations of Neuroactive/Psychoactive Drugs Expected in Blood of Children and Adolescents
PURPOSE Therapeutic drug monitoring is highly recommended for children and adolescents treated with neurotropic/psychotropic drugs. For interpretation of therapeutic drug monitoring results, drug concentrations (C/D) expected in a "normal" population are helpful to identify pharmacokinetic abnormalities or nonadherence. Using dose-related concentration (DRC) factors obtained from pharmacokinetic data, C/D ranges expected under steady state can be easily calculated by multiplication of DRC by the daily dose. DRC factors, however, are defined only for adults so far. Therefore, it was the aim of this study to estimate DRC factors for children and adolescents and compare them with those of adul…
Consensus Guidelines for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Neuropsychopharmacology: Update 2017
AbstractTherapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is the quantification and interpretation of drug concentrations in blood to optimize pharmacotherapy. It considers the interindividual variability of pharmacokinetics and thus enables personalized pharmacotherapy. In psychiatry and neurology, patient populations that may particularly benefit from TDM are children and adolescents, pregnant women, elderly patients, individuals with intellectual disabilities, patients with substance abuse disorders, forensic psychiatric patients or patients with known or suspected pharmacokinetic abnormalities. Non-response at therapeutic doses, uncertain drug adherence, suboptimal tolerability, or pharmacokinetic drug…
A53T-Alpha-Synuclein Overexpression Impairs Dopamine Signaling and Striatal Synaptic Plasticity in Old Mice
BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder at old age, can be caused by elevated expression or the A53T missense mutation of the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein (SNCA). PD is characterized pathologically by the preferential vulnerability of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal projection neurons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we used two mouse lines overexpressing human A53T-SNCA and studied striatal dysfunction in the absence of neurodegeneration to understand early disease mechanisms. To characterize the progression, we employed young adult as well as old mice. Analysis of striatal neurotransmitter content demonstrated that dopamine (DA…