Health Professionals make crucial decisions for prescriptions regarding pharmaceutical information. Drug company promotional material is used by medical professionals to expand the knowledge of certain prescriptions to their patients to secure a plan of action to treat their illness. The active ingredient in Lexapro is Escitalopram oxalate. Escitalopram oxalate is an antidepressant in a drug group called SSRI, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.
The chemical name of Lexapro is Escitalopram. The IUPAC name is (1S)-1-[3-(dimethylamino) propyl]-1-(4-fluorophenyl)-3H-2-benzofuran-5-carbonitrile, and the molecular formula is C20H21FN2O.2 Lexapro is used for treating major anxiety and depression in adolescents and adults. When diagnosed with depression, you lack the chemical serotonin. Serotonin is made in both the brain and intestines, linking
Figure 1: Structural formula of Lexapro. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Escitalopram_oxalate#section=Top with your control of your mood and other functions of your body. Lexapro works to boost the chemical activity of Serotonin in your brain to mentally battle depression. The balancing act is created when serotonin is released from one nerve cell and becomes available to the next. During this process, some of the serotonin released is reabsorbed by the first nerve cell. Lexapro will block the re-absorption of serotonin into the first cell, which will eventually lead to an increased amount of serotonin to become available.7
