[Specific inhibitory action of a novel antidepressant paroxetine on 5-HT uptake]

Effect of a novel antidepressant, paroxetine, on the uptake of serotonin (5-HT), noradrenaline (NA) and dopamine (DA) as well as on various neuro-receptors were investigated in comparison with those of the tricyclic antidepressants amitriptyline, chlorimipramine and imipramine. Paroxetine showed a potent 5-HT uptake inhibitory action, giving the NA/5-HT ratio of 886 in comparison with the ratios of 1.7, 15 and 1.5 for amitriptyline, chlorimipramine and imipramine, respectively. On the other hand, paroxetine showed almost no inhibitory action on the binding of the [3H]-labeled ligands examined in this study [( 3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate, [3H]5-HT, [3H]ketanserine, [3H]pyrilamine, [3H]dihydroalprenolol, [3H]prazosin, [3H]clonidine and [3H]spiroperidol). In contrast, the tricyclic antidepressants showed inhibitory action on a number of bindings and also revealed comparatively high affinities especially for muscarine, histamine-1 and alpha 1-adrenaline receptors responsible for the side effects. From the above findings, it can be concluded that paroxetine has only a weak affinity for various neuro-receptors and inhibits specifically 5-HT uptake.