Clinical Pharmacology in Psychiatry: Neuroleptic and Antidepressant Research

Thus, pulse rate, blood pressure, sweat-gland activity, pupil size, salivary secretion and tremor are all useful indicators of drug action (see, for example, Bye et al., 1979). However, they tend to be more use in evaluating unwanted effects of drugs rather than their therapeutic effects. ## Conclusions Validity, reliability and convenience are the major factors governing the use of monitoring techniques for drugs. Plasma concentration estimations are appropriate in instances where the drug effect is difficult to measure. Thus, plasma concentrations of antihypertensive agents or of anticoagulants are not measured routinely because the clinical effects are much more easily quantifiable. With psychotropic drugs, the clinical effects are not so easy to measure and, in particular, prediction of response is poor. Resort to estimations of plasma drug estimation thus appears logical but alternative approaches such as those outlined above should not be neglected. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Evaluation of existing methods for quantitation of neuroleptics in relation to clinical use....Pages 3-9 Alternative Approaches....Pages 11-17 Radioimmunoassay of tricyclic antidepressants....Pages 19-25 Biological assay systems for tricyclic antidepressants....Pages 27-32 Front Matter....Pages 33-33 Review on neuroleptic receptors: specificity and multiplicity of in vitro binding related to pharmacological activity....Pages 35-62 High affinity 3H-imipramine binding: a new tool in biological psychiatry....Pages 63-77 A radioreceptor assay for neuroleptic drugs....Pages 79-104 Radioreceptor binding technique as aid in treatment with neuroleptics....Pages 105-109 Preliminary assessment of a calf caudate radioreceptor assay for the estimation of neuroleptic drugs in plasma: comparison with other techniques....Pages 111-121 Front Matter....Pages 123-123 Active metabolites of phenothiazine drugs....Pages 125-137 Active metabolites of tricyclic antidepressants....Pages 139-153 Preliminary studies on the effect of dothiepin and its metabolites on serotonin uptake by human blood platelets in vitro....Pages 155-160 Active metabolites of antidepressants: novel aspects of hydroxylation and demethylation in man....Pages 161-169 Front Matter....Pages 171-171 Plasma and tissue binding of psychotropic drugs....Pages 173-176 Protein binding and monitoring of psychotherapeutic drugs in plasma....Pages 177-190 Plasma protein binding of haloperidol: influence of age and disease states....Pages 191-196 Front Matter....Pages 197-197 Clinical significance of neuroleptic plasma level monitoring....Pages 199-209 The clinical significance of measuring perphenazine in plasma during oral antipsychotic treatment....Pages 211-216 Serum haloperidol determinations and their contribution to the treatment of schizophrenia....Pages 217-225 Haloperidol plasma levels in relation to antimanic effect....Pages 227-232 Front Matter....Pages 197-197 Haloperidol plasma levels and clinical response in schizophrenia....Pages 233-237 Pharmacokinetics and plasma level/effect relationships of tricyclic antidepressants: an update....Pages 241-251 Pharmacokinetics of high clearance drugs and their metabolites....Pages 253-262 Prediction of plasma levels and clinical response in depression....Pages 263-271 Kinetic aspects of nortriptyline dose regimen....Pages 273-283 The pharmacokinetics and metabolism of tricyclic antidepressant drugs in patients with chronic renal failure....Pages 285-295 Factors affecting the biphasic concentration: effect relationships of tricyclic antidepressants....Pages 297-306 Biochemical indices of the effects of the selective MAO inhibitors clorgyline, pargyline and deprenyl in man....Pages 307-316 Front Matter....Pages 317-317 Cardiovascular effects of antidepressants....Pages 319-341 Cardiovascular effects of the tricyclic antidepressants: implications for new research....Pages 343-349 Antidepressant treatment with imipramine and nortriptyline in elderly patients....Pages 351-357 Neurological side effects and plasma and CSF levels....Pages 359-368 Clinical pharmacological approaches to evaluating tardive dyskinesia....Pages 369-383 Neuroleptic-induced ‘tardive Tourrette’s syndrome’ and neurotoxicity....Pages 385-387 Back Matter....Pages 389-409