Accutane is a member of the drug type known as retinoids, which have been shown to alter the way the body reads genes. Use of the drug while expecting a child is known to harm fetuses and reduce the quantity of brain cells that they generate. This is why cautions are taken to ensure that female who are pregnant or who can become pregnant do not use the drug. However, recent studies suggest that brain-cell generation can be equally important in adolescents and adults. Scientists at the University of Baths and the University of Texas in Austin express Accutane might also interfere with the body's synthesis of the mood hormone serotonin.

While experience from the more than 13 million consumers of Accutane worldwide suggests that just 5 to 10 percent suffer from side effects, retinoids have also been implied in connections to Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia, so doctors are eager to know how the drug works.

Depression Linked to Acne Treatment

Acne treatment with the drug isotretinoin (Accutane) has been implicated in an elevation in feelings of depression in adolescent users, and while the link has never been proven, researchers have gathered evidence through an animal study.

Although scientist Dr. Sarah Bailey noted that it is impossible to ask a mouse if it is depressed, its behaviour can be analyzed and modeled through two tests. The first involves causing the adolescent mice to experience stress by forcing it to swim, while the other one induces stress by suspending the mice by its tail.

Acne Cure Tested for Side Effects

Normally, a mouse will swim, climb or struggle, and only periodically stop in a phase of resignation. A depressed mouse will remain in its resigned phase longer than one that is healthy. The mice given human-equivalent doses of Accutane used to demonstrate increased depression-related behavior.

Accutane maker Roche says, "While no causal relationship has been demonstrated between Accutane and either depression or suicide, we are permanently inspecting all available safety databases on Accutane worldwide." However, the World Health Organization has reported 720 cases of psychiatric problems associated to the use of Accutane, including 84 suicides and suicide attempts.

The allegation that isotretinoin caused depression and suicide has won a few lawsuits, and is partially responsible for the strict control of the drug, especially in the US. Several case reports of depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, and suicide in people treated with the acne skin care isotretinoin have been reported to the U.S. FDA Adverse Events Reporting System, with 431 cases reported between 1982 and May 2001 - of these 37 patients had committed suicide.

Idiosyncratic Effects From Acne Skin Care

Studies have demonstrated that people with acne, the population group eligible to undergo isotretinoin therapy, have an elevated risk of clinical depression compared with the general population. Isotretinoin associated depression is "an idiosyncratic side effect." Usually anxiety can bring on acne and depression, creating more anxiety. Correspondingly, treatment of severe acne with isotretinoin has been demonstrated to reduce anxiety and depression.

One experiment utilising positron emission tomography (PET) showed functional brain imaging variations in patients using isotretinoin, however the clinical significance of this finding is unclear.