Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The results of a double-blind trial of a tetracyclic antidepressant, maprotiline (Ludiomil) and a conventional tricyclic, amitriptyline (Elavil), in 67 ambulatory depressives are reported. Hamilton's Rating Scale for Depression was the main outcome criterion. No statistically significant differences were found between the drugs in onset of action, efficacy, side effects or predictors of response. Patients on either drug showed a significant reduction in symptoms after 1 week of treatment and at the end of the trial. Both drugs were tolerated well. A review of double-blind comparisons of maprotiline and tricyclic antidepressants, spanning 13 countries, and including over 900 patients, both ambulatory and inpatient, shows essentially similar results. The main outcome criterion in all these studies was manifest psychopathology assessed on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression by the treating physician. The absence of additional types of outcome criteria or assessment techniques, which may have detected differences in motor activity or drive as originally postulated, may have obscured results which were expected to be subtle.
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PMID:A double-blind trial of maprotiline (Ludiomil) and amitriptyline in depressed outpatients. 110 74

Tricyclic antidepressants, such as amitriptyline (Elavil), and the nontricyclic agent, fluoxetine (Prozac), bind to growth-regulatory intracellular histamine receptors, associated with anti-estrogen binding sites in microsomes and nuclei. The prototype anti-estrogen binding site/intracellular histamine receptor ligand, N,N-diethyl-2-[4-(phenylmethyl)phenoxy]ethanamine HCl, inhibits normal cell proliferation in vitro but stimulates tumor growth in vivo. Because of their structural similarity to N,N-diethyl-2-[4-(phenylmethyl)phenoxy]ethanamine HCl, we carried out studies to determine whether amitriptyline and fluoxetine stimulate tumor growth and/or development in rodents at concentrations relevant to the treatment of human depression (equivalent human dose range, approximately 100-150 mg/day for amitriptyline and approximately 20-80 mg/day for fluoxetine). All experiments were performed blinded. In studies of growth stimulation of transplantable syngeneic tumors, groups of mice were inoculated s.c. with C-3 fibrosarcoma cells or given i.v. or s.c. injections of B16f10 melanoma cells, followed 24 h later by daily i.p. injections of saline, amitriptyline, or fluoxetine. Tumor latency (fibrosarcoma), aggregate tumor weight (s.c. injected melanoma), or time to death from pulmonary metastasis (i.v. injected melanoma) was determined; drug-induced stimulation of DNA synthesis in C-3 fibrosarcoma cells in vitro was correlated with tumor growth acceleration in vivo. In a mammary carcinogenesis model, the effects of chronic saline, amitriptyline, or fluoxetine administration on the rate and frequency of development of mammary tumors in rats fed dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) were compared. Eight of 20 amitriptyline- or fluoxetine-treated mice developed fibrosarcoma tumors by day 5, as compared to none of 20 saline controls (P less than 0.002). Similarly, 20 of 21 DMBA-treated rats receiving the antidepressant drugs developed 33 mammary tumors by week 15 as compared to 5 tumors in 4 of 7 DMBA-treated rats receiving saline (P less than 0.001). For both models, tumor latency decreased 30-40% and, in the DMBA model, tumor frequency increased greater than 2-fold in the antidepressant-treated rats as compared to controls. Stimulation of fibrosarcoma growth in vivo correlated with a corresponding bell-shaped drug-induced increase in DNA synthesis in vitro. While the median time to death from pulmonary metastases did not differ among groups given i.v. injections of melanoma cells, a significant (P less than 0.01) stimulation of growth of s.c. injected melanoma was observed in mice receiving the antidepressants.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Stimulation of malignant growth in rodents by antidepressant drugs at clinically relevant doses. 161 49

Amitriptyline hydrochloride was compared with placebo in 46 veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. Treatment continued up to 8 weeks, and efficacy was measured by five observer and two self-rated scales. Percent recovery rates were higher for amitriptyline than placebo on two measures. In patients who completed 4 weeks (n = 40), better outcome with amitriptyline was noted on the Hamilton depression scale only. In the group completing 8 weeks of treatment (n = 33), the drug was superior to placebo on Hamilton depression, Hamilton anxiety, Clinical Global Impression severity, and Impact of Event scales. There was no evidence for drug effects on the structured interview for posttraumatic stress disorder. Drug-placebo differences were greater in the presence of comorbidity in general, although recovery rates were uniformly low in the presence of major depression, panic disorder, and alcoholism. At the end of treatment, 64% of the amitriptyline and 72% of the placebo samples still met diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder.
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PMID:Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder with amitriptyline and placebo. 240 8

As compared to the psychopharmacological profile of amitriptyline hydrochloride the authors analyse the findings of a comparative clinical trial amitriptyline versus Tryptizol regarding their efficacy in neurotic and presenile depression. 170 inpatients divided into four comparative series were investigated. The drugs were administered according to the same scheme in monotherapy for 30 days. The efficiency and tolerance of these drugs were estimated through clinical observations, the recording of the first ameliorated state and the maximum one, psychological check-up by using Hamilton's scale for depressions, paraclinical investigation, recording of side effects, clinical and paraclinical screening for 0-10-20-30 days. The analysis of clinical findings in the investigated series reveals for both drugs their easy administration, tolerance, incidence and low intensity of the side effects. The comparative estimation of the treatment with amitriptyline and Tryptizol in neurotic and presenile depressions attests a similar therapeutic efficiency.
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PMID:[Comparative clinico-therapeutic study of amitriptyline hydrochloride (Tryptizol/amitriptyline)]. 268 1

This was a single-blind 4-week parallel group comparative trial in fifty depressed patients. Twenty-five patients received 50 mg of Lentizol, a sustained-release form of amitriptyline, and twenty-five received 75 mg of Prothiaden. Both groups took their drugs as a single night-time dose. Patient response was measured on a symptom check-list which was completed by the doctor and a self-rating depression scale. Tolerance was assessed by recording volunteered and observed side-effects and also by taking the pulse, blood pressure and an electrocardiogram before treatment and after 2 and 4 weeks. A statistically better response was seen with Prothiaden at each follow-up assessment (1, 2 and 4 weeks) compared to Lentizol as measured by both the symptom check-list and the self-rating scale. Less side-effects was also seen with Prothiaden. Minor changes were seen in the ECG records of two patients on Prothiaden and three on Lentizol. These changes were not associated with any clinical change in the patients' cardiovascular state. No consistent changes of any clinical significance were seen in the pulse and blood pressure recordings.
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PMID:A comparison of the therapeutic and cardiovascular effects of a single nightly dose of Prothiaden (dothiepin, dosulepin) and Lentizol (sustained-release amitriptyline) in depressed elderly patients. 722 21

Frequent antihistaminic side effects noted during treatment of depression by tricyclic drugs, as well as the high affinity of tricyclic antidepressants for H1 receptors in mouse neuroblastoma cells, suggest possible useful antihistaminic properties. We investigated the antipruritic activity of topically applied 5% solutions of doxepin hydrochloride (Adapin; Sinequan) and amitriptyline hydrochloride (Elavil) and compared such activity to that of a 5% solution of diphenhydramine and vehicle alone. Test solutions were applied to 25-cm2 areas on the flexor forearms of forty subjects, and the development of itch to single drops of eight dilutions of histamine phosphate instilled in each area was reported over a 3-minute period. The lowest concentration of histamine able to elicit unequivocal itching in each treated area was the histamine itch threshold (HIT). Doxepin, amitriptyline, and diphenhydramine all produced significantly higher mean and median HITs (p less than 0.01 than did vehicle control. Sixty-eight percent of subjects had a HIT greater than or equal to 2 x 10(-4) mg/ml in doxepin-treated areas versus 58% for amitriptyline, 53% for diphenhydramine, and 25% for vehicle. Our data suggest that tricyclic antidepressants are effective topical antipruritic agents.
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PMID:Inhibition of histamine-induced pruritus by topical tricyclic antidepressants. 729 24