Differential efficacy of L-deprenyl, a selective MAO type-B inhibitor, in endogenous and nonendogenous depression.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S Gershon.
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Forty inpatient volunteers with diagnoses of schizophrenia were randomly assigned to treatment either with trebenzomine or thioridazine in a double-blind study of clinical antipsychotic efficacy following a 1-week placebo treatment. Psychopathology was rated using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI). There was a significant difference in therapeutic response to the two drugs in that psychopathology decreased significantly for the thioridazine group, but not for the trebenzomine group. Serum prolactin was elevated during treatment with thioridazine, but not with trebenzomine. Side effects were more frequently reported for the thioridazine group. These results fail to confirm previous reports of clinical antipsychotic efficacy for trebenzomine.
Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity was studied in three subpopulations of density-fractionated platelets in 15 unmedicated chronic paranoid schizophrenic patients and contrasted with normal controls. No significant difference in MAO activity was found in any of the three platelet fractions in schizophrenics compared to controls. Enzyme kinetic studies performed on the intermediate-density platelet fraction demonstrated no significant differences in Vmax or Michaelis' constant (Km) between schizophrenics and controls, but showed that the higher platelet MAO activity reported in females compared to male is due to a significantly greater Vmax rather than altered Km. It is suggested that conflicting results reported in the literature regarding platelet MAO in schizophrenia are not related to the platelet subpopulations studied but are largely due to the selected patient populations.
Levels of the amine metabolites homovanillic acid (HVA) and methoxyhydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) were measured in the cerebrospinal (CSF) fluid of drug-free patients with Alzheimer's disease and compared to levels in a group of controls. No significant differences were found in CSF HVA and MHPG, although the Alzheimer's group was severely demented. Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) enzyme kinetics were measured and did not differ between controls and Alzheimer patients. The degree of dementia did not show any significant correlation with the levels of HVA or MHPG. It was concluded that, unlike previous reports in the literature, the dementia of Alzheimer's disease was not related to changes in central catecholamine metabolism nor was it associated with increased platelet MAO activity.
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This article reviews the use of lithium from Roman times, when physicians first recommended alkaline springs in the treatment of mania, to the present. Serious interest in lithium began in 1949, with a report of improvement of mania in 10 of 10 patients. Since then, lithium has become increasingly popular both for treating acute mania and as a prophylactic agent. Its use in depression is also described. Finally, lithium's clinical spectrum is discussed, noting that its use extends far beyond the treatment of mania.
A 4-wk double-blind controlled study of the antidepressant efficacy of the triazolopyridine derivative trazodone, in contrast to imipramine and placebo, was carried out in 30 endogenously depressed outpatients. Trazodone was found to be equivalent in efficacy to imipramine and statistically significantly superior to placebo. Trazodone showed a significant antidepressant effect relative to placebo when outcome was measured after only 7 days of treatment. This antidepressant effect was sustained for at least 5 mo as indicated by an open study phase following the double-bind study. Side effects, particularly anticholinergic properties, were significantly less apparent on trazodone compared to imipramine. A limited study of the relationship of trazodone plasma levels to therapeutic outcome revealed no simple linear relationship and represents a direction for future research.
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Zimelidine, a new antidepressant, has proved to be a potent and selective inhibitor of 5-HT uptake into central 5-HT neurons. Due to its structural differences from the tricyclic antidepressants, it has also been suggested that it may have a different pharmacological profile, and be devoid of anticholinergic and noradrenaline potentiating properties. During the treatment with zimelidine hydrochloride, as a part of an open trial, one of our patients, a 38-year-old chronically depressed woman, overdosed herself with more than 10 times the actual therapeutic dose of zimelidine with no undesirable side effects. Previous studies have indicated that zimelidine in comparison with imipramine and chlorimipramine has no, or at most, a slight effect on peripheral adrenergic neurons, and has less pronounced anticholinergic properties than imipramine. The findings of our overdose case provide some support for these findings.
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The most widely known substances that have been investigated for treating cognitive deterioration in the aged are cerebral vasodilators, Gerovital H3, psychostimulants, "nootropics," neuropeptides, and neurotransmitters. The rationale for the choice of specific agents has shifted as our conceptions regarding the origins of cognitive decline have changed; we now know that most cognitive deterioration occurs independently of arteriosclerotic vascular changes. Substances currently being investigated because of their effects on brain electrophysiology, on neurohumoral processes, or on central neurotransmitters show promise.
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Available data on the clinical effectiveness and side effects of mesoridazine are reviewed, and an attempt is made to relate clinical efficacy to phenothiazine pharmacokinetics. Both controlled and open-label clinical studies have attested to the efficacy of mesoridazine in schizophrenia, as well as certain other psychiatric disorders. Clinical observations of the effectiveness of mesoridazine in patients refractory to treatment with thioridazine and other neuroleptics may be related to its slow rate of inactivation and to the relatively large proportion of free mesoridazine that is available for penetration to the target sites in the brain.
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