Hostname: page-component-669899f699-swprf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-30T16:36:53.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Plasma Concentrations of Protriptyline and Clinical Effects in Depressed Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

S. F. Whyte ,
A. J. Macdonald ,
G. J. Naylor  and
J. P. Moody
S. F. Whyte
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychological Medicine, University of Glasgow
A. J. Macdonald
Affiliation:
Royal Dundee Liff Hospital, by Dundee
G. J. Naylor
Affiliation:
Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Dundee
J. P. Moody
Affiliation:
Royal Dundee Liff Hospital, by Dundee
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

We studied the relationship between side effects, clinical outcome and the drug plasma levels in 28 female depressed patients treated with protriptyline. After 3½ weeks treatment, patients with plasma levels within a median range (630 to 900 nmol/1) showed better responses to the drug than patients with plasma levels outside this range.

There were no statistically significant correlations between plasma levels and side effect scores or ‘corrected’ side effect scores (scores after subtracting pre-treatment values) for the group at any time after starting the treatment. But we found positive correlations between plasma levels and ‘corrected’ side effect scores for the neurotic subgroup after 14 and 21 days of treatment. Other correlations between plasma levels and side effect scores were non-significant.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 128 , Issue 4 , April 1976 , pp. 384 - 390
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Asberg, M., Cronholm, B., Sjöqvist, F. & Tuck, D. (1970) The correlation of subjective side effects with plasma concentrations of nortriptyline. British Medical Journal, iv, 18–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asberg, M., Cronholm, B., Sjöqvist, F. & Tuck, D. (1971) Relationship between plasma level and therapeutic effect of nortriptyline. British Medical Journal, iii, 331—4.Google Scholar
Ballinger, B. R., Presly, A., Reid, A. H. & Stevenson, I. H. (1974) The effects of hypnotics on imipramine treatment. Psychopharmacologia (Berlin), 39, 267—74.Google Scholar
Braithwaite, R. A., Goulding, R., Theano, G., Bailey, J. & Coppen, A. J. (1972) Plasma concentration of amitriptyline and clinical response. Lancet, i, 1297—1300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burrows, G. D., Davis, B. & Scroggins, B. L. (1972) Plasma concentration of nortriptyline and clinical response in depressive illness. Lancet, ii, 619—23.Google Scholar
Burrows, G. D., Davis, B. & Scroggins, B. L. (1973) Clinical significance of plasma levels of tricyclic antidepressants in the treatment of depression. Lancet, i, 557—88.Google Scholar
Burrows, G. D. Scroggins, B. A., Turecek, L. R. & Davies, B. (1974) Plasma nortriptyline and clinical response. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 16, 639—44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dorfman, W. (1963) The use of protriptyline (MK-240) as an antidepressant: a preliminary report. American Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 594—5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, D. (1967) Evaluation of protriptyline: practical problems and some theoretical implications. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 8, 27—34.Google Scholar
Haydu, G. G., Dhrymiotis, A. & Quinn, G. P. (1962) Plasma imipramine levels in syndromes of depression. American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 574—5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kragh-Sorensen, P., Eggert-Hansen, C. & Asberg, M. (1973) Plasma levels of nortriptyline in the treatment of endogenous depression. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 49, 444—56.Google Scholar
Kragh-Sorensen, P., Asberg, M. & Eggert-Hansen, C. (1973) Plasma nortriptyline levels in endogenous depression. Lancet, i, 113—16.Google Scholar
Kragh-Sorensen, P., Eggert-Hansen, C., Larsen, M., Naestoft, J. & Hvidberg, E. F. (1974) Long term treatment of endogenous depression with nortriptyline with control of plasma levels. Psychological Medicine, 4, 174—80.Google Scholar
Krakowski, A. J. (1965) Protriptyline in the treatment of severe depressions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 808—9.Google Scholar
Moody, J. P., Whyte, S. F. & Naylor, G. J. (1973) A simple method for the determination of protriptyline in plasma. Clinica Chimica Acta, 43, 355—9.Google Scholar
Naylor, G. J., McNamee, H. B. & Moody, J. P. (1971) Changes in erythrocyte sodium and potassium on recovery from a depressive illness. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 219—23.Google Scholar
Oltman, J. E. & Friedman, S. (1965) Protriptyline in the treatment of depressive reactions. American Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 582—4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sjöqvist, F., Alexanderson, B., Asberg, M., Bertilsson, L., Borga, O., Hamberger, B. & Tuck, D. (1971) Pharmacokinetics and biological effects of nortriptyline in man. Acta Pharmacologica et Toxicologic, 29, Supplement 3, 255–80.Google Scholar
Walter, C. J. S. (1971) Plasma levels and clinical effect. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 64, 282—5.Google Scholar
Yates, C. M., Todrick, A. & Tait, A. C. (1963) Aspects of the clinical chemistry of desmethylimipramine in man. Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 15, 432—9.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.