Tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants

Abstract

Many of antidepressants exert their eff ects by inhibiting the reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin and by accerelating the release of them at synaptic terminals of neurons in the brain. As characteristic structures of such drugs showing antidepressive eff ects, many of them have tricyclic or tetracyclic nuclei; this is the reason why they are called _g tricyclic antidepressants or tetracyclic antidepressants_h. Th ere are many cases of suicides using the antidepressants; their massive intake sometimes causes death. About 10 kinds of tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants are now being used in Japan (> Figure 3.1); among them, amitriptyline is best distributed [1, 2]. Recently, the use of tetracyclic antidepressants is increasing, because of their mild side eff ects and their high eff ectiveness with their small doses; the increase of their use is causing the increase of their poisoning cases. Although carbamazepine does not belong to the antidepressant group, its structure is very similar to those of tricyclic antidepressants; therefore, the drug is also included in this chapter.