Antidepressants may damage skeleton - study

Oslo (dpa) - Antidepressants like the popular medication Fluoxitine, better known as Prozac, may help ease psychological problems but may also damage the skeleton, a Norwegian study said Monday.

"Antidepressants impede activity in the bone building cells. At the same time, they increase production of signal substances that stimulate the breakdown of bone mass," researcher Bjorn I. Gustafsson at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim told the online site forskning.no.

Some 400,000 Norwegians are estimated to use antidepressants daily.

Gustafsson's research has focused on Fluoxetine, but other antidepressants are believed to have similar side effects.

Antidepressants increase the amount of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter, and most of the body's serotonin is produced by specific cells in the stomach and intestinal system.

The research suggests that the antidepressants affects the balance between bone producing osteoblasts, and osteoclasts that break down bone.

There are no longterm studies of the affects of antidepressants but researchers in the Netherlands and the United States are trying to collect such data.

http://www.dpa.de/en/unternehmenswelt/

Copyright 2005 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH

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