Les psychotropes d'aujourd'hui et les bases de développement de ceux de demain

Psychopharmacology is a 60-year-old specialized branch of pharmacology. Its first discoveries were fortuitous but, progressively, with the development of neurobiology, it has transformed and modified its research modalities, imposing a rational approach and scientific rigour. It has also been automatized, especially with the “high throughput screening”, which measures the affinity of a very large number of molecules to be tested for a number of biological targets, followed by the determination of the manner of interaction, especially intrinsic activity. Commonly, a molecule is not specific to a determined biological target, and one is prompted to take advantage of composite actions for an appropriate manipulation of disturbed cerebral functions. These in vitro studies now precede in vivo studies. The studies favour behavioural models which closely mimic definite psychiatric diseases. We have chosen for illustration the development of a “depressive” line of mice. When a potential efficacy has been observed, before performing the clinical studies necessary to fulfil the criteria characteristics of a true drug, further information, dealing with toxicity and pharmacokinetics, should be obtained. Finally, we have also presented various putative targets which should inspire the development of new antidepressant drugs.