Re: Suicide Link to Acne Drug Officially Established

That is an interesting article, Luella. I have taken accutane several times and try to keep my eye out for articles/studies related to it. To be clear, the study did not establish any kind of link to suicide - that can only be done by bean counters. People who suffer from severe acne probably have higher suicide rates then the general population, so you would probably need to compare the suicide rates between accutane users, non accutane users who suffer from severe acne, and a group who don't suffer from acne and don't take accutane. It is entirely possible that the drug may push people to depression/suicide who might not have gone there without it and pulled some people back who had their severe acne cleared. This is the first study I have seen that involved testubes and microscopes. They don't mention it in that article, but I found this regarding what they think is ocurring on a cellular level.

Using cells cultured in a laboratory, scientists from the University of Bath (UK) and University of Texas at Austin (USA) were able to monitor the effect of the drug on the chemistry of the cells that produce serotonin.

They found that the cells significantly increased production of proteins and cell metabolites that are known to reduce the availability of serotonin.

This, says scientists, could disrupt the process by which serotonin relays signals between neurons in the brain and may be the cause of depression-related behaviour.

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2007/11/12/roaccutaneserotonin.html