I haven’t tried ALC (also known as ALCAR)…I might try it eventually. In the article it was initially given intravenously, which might be a more powerful way to use it than orally, and it was for anhedonia induced by alcohol withdrawal, which might be different from anhedonia caused by depression or schizophrenia
As for F17464 here’s a copy of my comment on the pramipexole post regarding drugs that increase mesocortical dopamine (prefrontal cortex dopamine):
“5-HT1A agonist drugs, as well as 5-ht2a antagonist drugs, increase dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (mesocortical pathway), not in the reward center of the brain (which is also known as the mesolimbic dopamine pathway)… The original theory that negative symptoms originate from a mesocortical (prefrontal cortex) dopamine deficiency doesn’t hold true for those that suffer specifically from anhedonia. My belief is that they loosely counted people suffering from cognitive deficits (which are thought to stem from prefrontal cortex dysfunctions) as people suffering from negative symptoms (i.e. they put cognitive deficits and negative symptoms in the same basket) when they first came up with the mesocortical dopamine deficiency theory of negative symptoms… Take Abilify, Seroquel, Olanzapine, and I think pretty much all of the atypical antipsychotics for example, they are both 5-ht1a agonist and 5-ht2a antagonists and clearly they do nothing for the majority of people with anhedonia and negative symptoms unrelated to any sort of cognitive dysfunction…Although on paper, and for marketing purposes, it looks good to say that atypical antipsychotics correct the chemical imbalance (mesocortical dopamine deficiency) and therefore improve negative symptoms… When I first met my pdoc she told me right off the bat that they didn’t have any effective medication for negative symptoms and the solution was to do exercise and behavioural activation, yet if you look on the website of abilify and all atypical antipsychotics they will claim that they all work for negative symptoms (by increasing mesocortical dopamine)…”
I invite anybody suffering from anhedonia to have a look at the pramipexole post. It’s one of the most promising treatment that I have found so far for anhedonia… (Pramipexole (Mirapex) for anhedonia and negative symptoms?)