Posted by ed_uk on December 12, 2004, at 9:46:40
Hello,
Reserpine is a drug which has become notorious for inducing depression. It is an amine-depleting drug which has been used for the treatment of hypertension and psychotic disorders. It is no longer available in the UK but is still used in some parts of the world. A similar drug, tetrabenazine (Xenazine) is used in the UK as a treatment for tardive dyskinesia, it has similar central effects to reserpine but is reported to cause fewer peripheral side effects. Tetrabenazine is also capable of causing depression. Oxypertine (Integrin) is another amine-depleting drug which was formerly available in the UK for the treatment of schizophrenia.
Interestingly, combining a TCA with reserpine or tetrabenazine has sometimes been a useful therapy for treatment-resistant depression. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of this combination.
From Psychopharmacologia (1967).......
14 out of 15 patients with depression resistant to imipramine responded well when 7.5 to 10mg reserpine/day for *2 days* was added to imipramine. Some patients had an initial manic response when reserpine was added. In 6 of the 14 patients improvement was maintained throughout the 6 month follow-up. (I wonder whether repeated doses of reserpine would have been useful in those patients who relapsed).
Other articles have also reported the effects of combining reserpine with imipramine or desipramine. The efficacy of such combinations has been questioned by some authors however.
Have a look at this. Reserpine is added to treatment with a TCA........
Psychiatr Clin (Basel). 1975;8(3):109-14.
Treatment with reserpine of patients resistant to tricyclic antidepressants. A double-blind trial.
Hopkinson G, Kenny F.
.........A double-blind study was conducted on 14 patients; eight were given 5 mg of reserpine i.m. and six were given 2 ml of normal saline on 2 successive days. The administration of the tricyclic antidepressants the patients had been taking, was continued. The Hamilton Depressive Rating Scale was administered on the day before treatment was commenced, and repeated on the fourth day. Statistical analysis revealed that the patients who received reserpine showed a highly significant improvement of a good quality. The mean fall in the Hamilton rating for the placebo group was 6 points, and in the reserpine group it was 18.87......
Adding tetrabenazine (Xenazine in the UK) to treatment with a TCA might be expected to have a similar effect to the addition of reserpine (since the mechanism of action of the two drugs is thought to be the same).'COMBINED ADMINISTRATION OF DESIPRAMINE AND RESERPINE OR TETRABENAZINE IN DEPRESSIVE PATIENTS.
Psychopharmacologia. 1963 May 21;65:308-10.'
Ed.
poster:ed_uk
thread:428196
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041211/msgs/428196.html