Imipramine and Lithium Effects on Biogenic Amine Transport in Depressed and Manic-Depressed Patients
DENNIS L. MURPHY M.D.,
ROBERT W. COLBURN PH.D.,
JOHN M. DAVIS M.D.1, , and
WILLIAM E. BUNNEY JR. M.D.
1 Associate professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt Medical School, Nashville, Tenn.
It is often risky to extrapolate to man the results of animal studies on the mechanism of action of psychoactive drugs. In this study, platelets obtained from patients before and during treatment with imipramine and lithium were used to determine whether the effects of these drugs suggested by animal studies to be involved in cell membrane transport could be identified in these human cells. Imipramine was found to inhibit and lithium to stimulate amine transport in platelets. confirming that the cellular effects of these drugs in man are similar to their effects on brain cells from animals.
