Urinary Cyclic AMP in ‘Endogenous' and ‘Neurotic’ Depression

Abstract

Since the discovery of adenosine 3'5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) by Sutherland and Rall (1958), the concept has evolved that this nucleotide acts as the second messenger substance for many neurotransmitter and hormone-induced responses (Sutherland, Robison and Butcher, 1968). Cyclic AMP occurs in high concentration in the brain. Cyclic AMP is functionally closely related, and possibly fundamental, to the action of catecholamines and serotonin, both of which have been implicated in the amine hypothesis of depression (Granville-Grossman, 1971). Cyclic AMP is formed from ATP by the action of an enzyme adenyl cyclase, and it is degraded by the enzyme cyclic-AMP-phosphodiesterase(Lancet, Editorial, 1970) both of which occur in brain.