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 dopamine theory of depression was studied by assessing the effect of antidepressant drugs on uptake of dopamine, noradrenaline, and serotonin in synaptosomes from rat brain. Five newer drugs--butriptyline, maprotiline, trimipramine, iprindole, and mianserine--exhibited rather potent inhibition of 3H-dopamine uptake in corpus striatum, as their IC50 values, which were in the order of 10(-6)-10(-5) M, were only about 50 times higher than for nomifensine (IC50 = 10(-7) M). The five drugs were weak, compared to chlorimipramine, on 14C-serotonin uptake in the whole forebrain, as their IC50 were about 10(-5) M. Butriptyline, trimipramine, and iprindole were very weak uptake inhibitors of 3H-noradrenaline in the occipital cortex. Their IC50 values were about 10(-6) M, which is almost 1000 times higher than for desmethylimipramine. These results are discussed in relation to comprehensive recent literature as further indicating a link between dopamine and depression.
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PMID:Uptake inhibition of biogenic amines by newer antidepressant drugs: relevance to the dopamine hypothesis of depression. 40 61

Ten patients who suffered from a primary depressive illness were treated with a new antidepressant drug butriptyline (150 mg/day). Six of the patients showed marked clinical improvement, as judged by depression rating scores, at the end of 22 days of treatment. No simple relationship was found between clinical response and plasma butriptyline concentration. Butriptyline is an effective antidepressant agent, well tolerated and with few side effects.
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PMID:A new antidepressant butriptyline: plasma levels and clinical response. 57 45

77 primary depressive in-patients aged 18-70 years (mean = 46/47 years) were assigned randomly to experimental and control groups and treated in double-blind conditions in ten centers. Butriptyline and amitriptyline were both administered with an identical increasing schedule, up to 150 mg daily in the first week and a flexible schedule for the last 3 weeks of trial. Mean daily doses were 145 mg butriptyline and 142 mg amitriptyline after 2 weeks, and 77.5 mg amitriptyline and butriptyline after 4 weeks. Nitrazepam (5-10 mg) and haldol (5 mg) were also allowed, only if necessary. Symptomatology and antidepressant efficacy were assessed using the rating scales of Hamilton, Overall, BPRS, CGI and a side effect checklist. After initial comparison of the two treatment groups, the results showed that the antidepressant effects were significantly better with butriptyline on the number of dropouts, on the total score and on the following factors of the Overall Depression Scale: depression, guilt, anxiety, somatization and somatic complaints. Frequency of haldol prescription was significantly lower with butriptyline than with amitriptyline. The overall frequency of side effects and of autonomic symptoms did not differ in the two groups. The effects on other parameters (hematological and biochemical variables, ECG and EEG) were similar for both drugs. In conclusion, butriptyline has the same indications as amitriptyline but shows a better antidepressant efficacy at the same dosage.
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PMID:A double-blind controlled multicenter trial comparing butriptyline with amitriptyline. 635 70