MeSH

An essential amino acid that is necessary for normal growth in infants and for NITROGEN balance in adults. It is a precursor of INDOLE ALKALOIDS in plants. It is a precursor of SEROTONIN (hence its use as an antidepressant and sleep aid). It can be a precursor to NIACIN, albeit inefficiently, in mammals.

A structurally and mechanistically diverse group of drugs that are not tricyclics or monoamine oxidase inhibitors. The most clinically important appear to act selectively on serotonergic systems, especially by inhibiting serotonin reuptake.

Year introduced: 1995

Amino acids containing an aromatic side chain.

Year introduced: 2002

Amino acids and chains of amino acids connected by peptide linkages.

Year introduced: 1998

Amino acids that are not synthesized by the human body in amounts sufficient to carry out physiological functions. They are obtained from dietary foodstuffs.

Year introduced: 1974

A class of amino acids characterized by a closed ring structure.

Year introduced: 1998

Organic compounds that generally contain an amino (-NH2) and a carboxyl (-COOH) group. Twenty alpha-amino acids are the subunits which are polymerized to form proteins.

Year introduced: /metabolism was AMINO ACID METABOLISM 1965

Uses of chemicals which affect the course of conditions, diseases, syndromes or pathology to benefit the health of an individual.

Year introduced: 2004

A broad category of chemical actions and uses that result in the prevention, treatment, cure or diagnosis of disease. Included here are drugs and chemicals that act by altering normal body functions, such as the REPRODUCTIVE CONTROL AGENTS and ANESTHETICS. Effects of chemicals on the environment are also included.

Year introduced: 2004(1999)

A group of pharmacologic activities, effects on living systems and the environment, and modes of employment of drugs and chemicals. They are broken into actions, which describe their effects, and uses, which describe how they are employed.

Year introduced: 1999

A loosely defined grouping of drugs that have effects on psychological function. Here the psychotropic agents include the antidepressive agents, hallucinogens, and tranquilizing agents (including the antipsychotics and anti-anxiety agents).

Year introduced: 1975

A class of drugs producing both physiological and psychological effects through a variety of mechanisms. They can be divided into specific agents, e.g., affecting an identifiable molecular mechanism unique to target cells bearing receptors for that agent, and nonspecific agents, those producing effects on different target cells and acting by diverse molecular mechanisms. Those with nonspecific mechanisms are generally further classed according to whether they produce behavioral depression or stimulation. Those with specific mechanisms are classed by locus of action or specific therapeutic use. (From Gilman AG, et al., Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, 8th ed, p252)

Year introduced: 1979

Mood-stimulating drugs used primarily in the treatment of affective disorders and related conditions. Several MONOAMINE OXIDASE INHIBITORS are useful as antidepressants apparently as a long-term consequence of their modulation of catecholamine levels. The tricyclic compounds useful as antidepressive agents (ANTIDEPRESSIVE AGENTS, TRICYCLIC) also appear to act through brain catecholamine systems. A third group (ANTIDEPRESSIVE AGENTS, SECOND-GENERATION) is a diverse group of drugs including some that act specifically on serotonergic systems.

Year introduced: 1966