Alpha-2: Mood vs cognition?

[firedoor]

Since mirtazapine is a central alpha-2 antagonist used to treat depression, whereas clonidine and guanfacine are alpha-2 agonists which are sometimes used for ADHD, I am curious whether mirtazapine may have any undesirable effects on cognition or relatedly whether clonidine or guanfacine may have depressogenic properties.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences regarding this?

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[whopper]

I have not seen Clonidine exhibit depressogenic properties in clinical practice, but I don't give it out much. When I do give it, it's usually for someone on opioid withdrawal and those people are often feeling depressed due to getting off the opioid.

There is data suggesting that Remeron's mood altering effects may be connected with the alpha receptor though most sources state it's primary mood altering effects are likely related to its effects on serotonin.

There is data showing the receptor you mentioned does have effects on mood in mice. I have not seen much data on this topic in humans. Out of curiosity, I did look this up on pubmed and found this...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20089918

 

[Manicsleep]

From what I remember, the alpha antagonism is the serotonergic effect. However, remeron is a multiple agent. That is not its only manner of anti-ing the depression. It works on multiple other sites other than alpha.