From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Tue Feb 04 2003 - 12:56:19 MST
gts wrote:
> Rafal Smigrodzki wrote:
>
>> ### I know selegiline is a selective MAOI.
>> I meant to write "How does it compare to other MAOI's?"
>> In other words, since MAOI's suck, and selegiline is a MAOI,
>> selegiline sucks, too.
>
> MAOI's don't "suck." Were it not for the risks of hypertensive crises
> from tyramine rich foods then MAOI's would still reign supreme as the
> best and safest antidepressants in existence. It is only because of
> those hypertensive risks associated with certain foods that the
> tricyclics and SSRI's and others were developed.
### Actually, MAOI's have all kinds of other side effects, such as
palpitations, somnolence, agitation, hypertension, headache, hepatotoxicity,
and a very, very long list of drug interactions.
--------------
But the MAOI
> selegiline does not suffer from those risks, Rafal, because as I've
> stated several times, at normal dosages it is a selective inhibitor
> only of *MAO-B*, and the inhibition of MAO-B does not entail any
> risks of hypertensive crises.
### At selective doses (10mg) selegiline has insufficient potency, at
effective doses (30-60 mg) it is no longer selective enough (one of your
abstracts mentions that, too).
------------
>
>> Give me some data supporting the contention that selegiline is "an
>> excellent antidepressant", compared to the SSRI's, TCA's, and
>> atypicals I mentioned above.
>
> Okay I will offer a few of abstracts below on that subject, but as I
> wrote above this is really beside the point. I'm not interested in
> defending selegiline only as an antidepressant. Its key value to
> transhumanists and others here is that it is a potent
> neuroprotectant, a cognitive aid, and a potential agent of life
> extension.
### "Potential" is the key word here. So far there is no proof of life
extension in humans, and no proof of neuroprotection in PD.
Rafal
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