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The action of reserpine in imipramine-resistant depressive patients

Clinical and biochemical study

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Summary

The action of reserpine on 15 imipramine-resistant endogenously depressed patients has been studied. A smaller or greater improvement, often after a short initial manic phase, occured in 14 patients; in 6 of them the improvement was maintained. These findings confirm earlier work on the paradoxical stimulating effect of reserpine in man when the drug is administered in combination with imipramine and in sufficiently high doses.

In 10 patients the clinical observations were correlated with simultaneous measurements of vanilylmandelic acid (VMA), a major metabolite of epinephrine and norepinephrine, and of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), a major metabolite of serotonin.

Patients with a good and stable clinical response also exhibited a conspicuous initial reaction in terms of 5-HIAA excretion; this 5-HIAA response failed to occur in unimproved patients or in patients with a slight and transient improvement. Unlike the 5-HIAA excretion, no such relationship was observed for VMA excretion. The initial response of VMA excretion to reserpine administration in all patients was only slight and irregular.

The biochemical as well as the clinical findings are discussed from the point of view of changes in biogenic amine metabolism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychiatric Clinic of the Hygienic Faculty and Psychiatric Clinic of the Charles University, Czechoslovakia

    L. Haškovec

  2. Medical Clinic of the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Prague, Czechoslovakia

    K. Ryšánek

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  1. L. Haškovec
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  2. K. Ryšánek
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Haškovec, L., Ryšánek, K. The action of reserpine in imipramine-resistant depressive patients. Psychopharmacologia 11, 18–30 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00401505

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