ReviewPsychopharmacology2012
Escitalopram, an antidepressant with an allosteric effect at the serotonin transporter--a review of current understanding of its mechanism of action.
Review in Psychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 103 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating the relationship between hippocampus/dentate gyrus volume and hypothalamus metabolism in participants with major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Effects of escitalopram on synaptic density in the healthy human brain: a randomized controlled trial.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Trial
- The quercetin-serotonin transporter (SERT) connection: a new hope for depression therapy?Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- The Use of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) Antidepressants in the Treatment of Lung Cancer.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Cytotoxic Effect of Escitalopram/Etoposide Combination on Etoposide-Resistant Lung Cancer.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Photoisomerization Dynamics of Azo-Escitalopram Using Surface Hopping and a Semiempirical Method.The journal of physical chemistry. B · 2025Article
- Brain network predictors of changes in symptoms and serum BDNF following antidepressant treatment with escitalopram and Yueju Pill in major depressive disorder: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.General psychiatry · 2025Article
- Comparative Efficacy of Animal Depression Models and Antidepressant Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Pharmaceutics · 2024Review
- Modulation of serotonin transporter expression by escitalopram under inflammation.Communications biology · 2024Article
- The anti-inflammatory effects of antidepressants on colitis.Gastroenterology and hepatology from bed to bench · 2024Article
- Kappa Opioid Receptors Reduce Serotonin Uptake and Escitalopram Efficacy in the Mouse Substantia Nigra Pars Reticulata.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Precision Medicine in Antidepressants Treatment.Handbook of experimental pharmacology · 2023Review
- Simultaneous Determination of Escitalopram Impurities including theMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Therapeutic effects of exercise-accompanied escitalopram on synaptic potency and long-term plasticity in the hippocampal CA1 area in rats under chronic restraint stress.Iranian journal of basic medical sciences · 2022Article
- Chronic treatment with escitalopram and venlafaxine affects the neuropeptide S pathway differently in adult Wistar rats exposed to maternal separation.AIMS neuroscience · 2022Article
- Editorial: Women in psychiatry 2022: Psychopharmacology.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Two Treatment Strategies, Evaluating the Meaningfulness of HAM-D Rating Scale in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Effects of inescapable stress on responses to social incentive stimuli and modulation by escitalopram.Psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Escitalopram Targets Oxidative Stress, Caspase-3, BDNF and MeCP2 in the Hippocampus and Frontal Cortex of a Rat Model of Depression Induced by Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- Effects of Subchronic Administrations of Vortioxetine, Lurasidone, and Escitalopram on Thalamocortical Glutamatergic Transmission Associated with Serotonin 5-HT7 Receptor.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleEscitalopram is a widely used antidepressant for the treatment of patients with major depression. It is the pure S-enantiomer of racemic citalopram. Several clinical trials and meta-analyses indicate that escitalopram is quantitatively more efficacious than many other antidepressants with a faster onset of action.
objectiveThis paper reviews current knowledge about the mechanism of action of escitalopram.
resultsThe primary target for escitalopram is the serotonin transporter (SERT), which is responsible for serotonin (or 5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) reuptake at the terminals and cell bodies of serotonergic neurons. Escitalopram and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors bind with high affinity to the 5-HT binding site (orthosteric site) on the transporter. This leads to antidepressant effects by increasing extracellular 5-HT levels which enhance 5-HT neurotransmission. SERT also has one or more allosteric sites, binding to which modulates activity at the orthosteric binding site but does not directly affect 5-HT reuptake by the transporter. In vitro studies have shown that through allosteric binding, escitalopram decreases its own dissociation rate from the orthosteric site on the SERT. R-citalopram, the nontherapeutic enantiomer in citalopram, is also an allosteric modulator of SERT but can inhibit the actions of escitalopram by interfering negatively with its binding. Both nonclinical studies and some clinical investigations have demonstrated the cellular, neurochemical, neuroadaptive, and neuroplastic changes induced by escitalopram with acute and chronic administration.
conclusionsThe findings from binding, neurochemical, and neurophysiological studies may provide a mechanistic rationale for the clinical difference observed with escitalopram compared to other antidepressant therapies.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.