The development of the first effective antidepressants in the late 1950s marked a turning point in the treatment of depressive illness. In 1957 the monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) iproniazid was discovered by chance, while searching for new antituberculous drugs. One year later the tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) imipramine was introduced, having been developed originally as an antipsychotic....

A fatal toxicity index (deaths per million National Health Service prescriptions) was calculated for antidepressant drugs on sale during the years 1975-84 in England, Wales, and Scotland. The tricyclic drugs introduced before 1970 had a higher index than the mean for all the drugs studied (p less than 0.001). In this group the toxicity of amitriptyline, dibenzepin, desipramine, and dothiepin wa...

To study correlations between the concentrations, in serum, of amitriptyline and its most important metabolites with clinical response in patients, we developed a "high-performance" liquid-chromatographic method for routine determination of amitriptyline, nortriptyline, total 10-hydroxy-amitriptyline, desmethylnortriptyline, and E(trans)- and Z(cis)-10-hydroxynortriptyline. These compounds are ...

A wide range of substances, including drugs and illicit compounds, increase the risk of epileptic seizures. In this systematic review, the authors address the issue of the epileptogenic potential of marketed drugs, with the aims of providing criteria for the assessment of the cause-effect relationship between drug exposure and the risk of seizures; and to identify the compounds better fulfillin...

CONTEXT Seizures during intoxications with pharmaceuticals are a well-known complication. However, only a few studies report on drugs commonly involved and calculate the seizure potential of these drugs. OBJECTIVES To identify the pharmaceutical drugs most commonly associated with seizures after single-agent overdose, the seizure potential of these pharmaceuticals, the age-distribution of the...