Maprotiline

Maprotiline, sold under the brand name Ludiomil among others, is a tetracyclic antidepressant (TeCA) that is used in the treatment of depression. It may alternatively be classified as a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA), specifically a secondary amine. In terms of its chemistry and pharmacology, maprotiline is closely related to such-other secondary-amine TCAs as nortriptyline and protriptyline and has similar effects to them, albeit with more distinct anxiolytic effects. Additionally, whereas protriptyline tends to be somewhat more stimulating and in any case is distinctly more-or-less non-sedating, mild degrees of sedation may be experienced with maprotiline.

Maprotiline is used in the treatment of depression, such as depression associated with agitation or anxiety and has similar efficacy to the antidepressant drug moclobemide. This finding has also been validated by a group of general practitioners who compared the respective efficacy and tolerability of maprotiline and moclobemide.

The use of maprotiline in the treatment of enuresis in pediatric patients has so far not been systematically explored and its use is not recommended. Safety and effectiveness in the pediatric population in general have not been established. Anyone considering the use of maprotiline in a child or adolescent must balance the potential risks with the clinical need.

A very small body of research has also explored the potential of maprotiline in treating diabetic kidney disease and it has been measured against amitriptyline in this regard.

Maprotiline and fluoxetine have also been found, among certain lines of research, to have quite potent anti-profilerative effects against certain forms of cancer of the Burkitt lymphoma type. One study also bore ought a certain level of evidence regarding maprotiline’s ability to suppress both cholesterol biosynthesis and hepatocellular carcinoma liver-cancer progression.

Maprotiline was also measured against imipramine, fluoxetine and ketamine in an experiment-model involving two different kinds of chicken differently-conditioned against stress, including (black) Australorps in the proposed treatment of treatment-resistant depression in humans.

In general, lower dosages are recommended for patients over 60 years of age. Dosages of 50 mg to 75 mg daily are usually satisfactory as maintenance therapy for elderly patients who do not tolerate higher amounts. In any case, 225 m.g./d. is the absolute-maximum highest recommended dose for this drug, as any more can predispose more significantly to seizures. 150 m.g. is the average optimal daily dose for otherwise-healthy patients who can tolerate a full dose.

In generalised theory, maprotiline (as with other tricyclic antidepressants, besides trimipramine and possibly clomipramine) may somewhat worsen certain features of schizophrenia, necessitating caution in prescribing them to someone with it and continuation of the antipsychotic treatment (e.g., with risperidone or olanzapine). However, certain bodies of evidence have found maprotiline a useful augment in treating some of the negative, or "anaesthetic", symptoms of schizophrenia and in probable extension pronounced schizoidia (including the characteristic deterioration in personal grooming/appearance). It has also been weighed against fluvoxamine in this overall regard (i.e., treating the negative symptoms of schizophrenia), with fluvoxamine evidencing clear superiority therein. Maprotiline, however, may be specifically useful for the "negative symptom" of alogia (poverty of thought and/or speech) and in this regard was found demonstrably superior to the other control-drugs (alprazolam, bromocriptine, citalopram, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, nortriptyline) in one study. Citalopram, clomipramine and fluvoxamine appeared particularly useful in the study for reducing affective blunting, with alprazolam (Xanax) and maprotiline ranking joint-next.