Current pharmacotherapy approaches and novel GABAergic antidepressant development in postpartum depression.

TitleCurrent pharmacotherapy approaches and novel GABAergic antidepressant development in postpartum depression.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2023
AuthorsCarlini SV, Osborne LM, Deligiannidis KM
JournalDialogues Clin Neurosci
Volume25
Issue1
Pagination92-100
Date Published2023 Dec
ISSN1958-5969
KeywordsAntidepressive Agents, Depression, Postpartum, Female, Humans, Pregnanolone, Psychotherapy
Abstract

Postpartum depression has deleterious effects on childbearing persons globally. Existing treatments have been largely extrapolated from those for other forms of depression and have included pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, and neuromodulation. Hormonal treatments with oestrogen and progestogens, thought to be a rational approach to treatment in response to an emerging literature on the pathophysiology of postpartum depression, have only limited evidence for efficacy to date. Novel antidepressant development with allopregnanolone analogues, in contrast, has proven a promising avenue for the development of rationally designed and efficacious treatments. This state-of-the-art review presents the evidence for the current standard-of-care pharmacotherapy, hormonal treatment, and emerging allopregnanolone analogues for the treatment of postpartum depression along with a discussion of the current understanding of its neuroactive steroid-driven pathophysiology.

DOI10.1080/19585969.2023.2262464
Alternate JournalDialogues Clin Neurosci
PubMed ID37796239
PubMed Central IDPMC10557560
Grant ListR01 MH120313 / MH / NIMH NIH HHS / United States