Mice who were given the generic equivalent of Prozac soon after they were born were prone to anxiety and depression as adults, new research concludes. Even though the study was not done in humans, it does raise questions about the safety of antidepressants in pregnant women and in young children. “It seems a reasonable conclusion that these medications are probably acting differently in an underdeveloped nervous system than in a developed nervous system,” said Dr. Jay Gingrich, senior author of the study, which appears in the Oct. 29 issue of Science. Gingrich presented the results Tuesday at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego.
