Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T04:25:27.050Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dyskinesias Associated with Tricyclic Antidepressants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

William E. Fann ,
John L. Sullivan III  and
Bruce W. Richman
William E. Fann*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine and Psychiatry Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, Texas
John L. Sullivan III
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
Bruce W. Richman
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, Baylor College of Medicine and Psychiatry Service, Veterans Administration Hospital, Houston, Texas
*
Correspondence to be addressed to Dr William E. Fann, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77025.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Hyperkinetic movement disorders may occur as side effects of antipsychotic drugs; and a hyperdopaminergic state induced by the neuroleptic compounds is thought to be a cause of extrapyramidal disorders such as tardive dyskinesia. We have observed two cases of the dyskinetic syndrome in patients receiving tricyclic antidepressants (TCA). Because the TCA are known to have little effect on striatal dopamine but do share with the neuroleptics potent anticholinergic activity, these cases appear to support the hypothesis that the drug-induced hyperkinetic disorders are related to a diminution of CNS acetylcholine activity as well as to an increase in dopamine activity.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 128 , Issue 5 , May 1976 , pp. 490 - 493
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambani, L. M., Van Woert, M. H. & Bowers, M. B. (1973) Physostigmine effects of phenothiazine-induced extrapyramidal reactions. Archives of Neurology, 29, 444–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aquilonius, S. M. & Sjostrom, R. (1971) Cholinergic and dopaminergic mechanisms in Huntington's Chorea. Life Sciences, 10, 206–10.Google Scholar
Birket-Smtth, E. (1974) Abnormal involuntary movements induced by anti-cholinergic therapy. Acta Neurologica Scandinavia, 50, 801–11.Google Scholar
Burks, J. S., Walker, J. E., Rumack, B. H. el al (1974) Tricyclic antidepressants poisoning. Journal of the American Medical Association, 230, 1405–7.Google Scholar
Crane, G. (1971) Motor disorders induced by neuroleptics: a proposed new classification. Archives of General Psychiatry, 24, 179–84.Google Scholar
Fann, W. E., Lake, C. R., Gerber, C. J. et al (1974) Cholinergic suppression of tardive dyskinesia. Psycho-pharrnacobgia, 37, 101–7.Google Scholar
Kety, S. S. (1974) Biochemical and neurochemical effects of electroconvulsive shock. In Psychobiology of Convulsive Therapy (eds. Fink, M., Kety, S., McGaugh, J. and Williams, T.), pp. 288–91. Washington, D.C.: V. H. Vinton & Sons.Google Scholar
Klawans, H. L. (1970) A pharmacologic analysis of Huntington's Chorea. European Neurology, 4, 148–63.Google Scholar
Klawans, H. L. & Rubovrrs, R. (1974) Effect of cholinergic and anticholinergic agents on tardive dyskinesia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 27, 941–7.Google Scholar
Lebensohn, Z. M. & Jenkins, R. B. (1975) Improvement in parkinsonism in depressed patients treated with ECT. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 283–5.Google ScholarPubMed
McGeer, P. L., McGeer, E. G. & Fibioer, H. G. (1973) Choline acetylase and glutamic acid decarboxylase in Huntington's chorea. Neurology, 23, 912–17.Google Scholar
Sulser, F. & Sanders-Bush, E. (1971) Effects of drugs on amines in the CNS. Annual Review of Pharmacology, 11, 209–30.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.