Pituitary secretion after administration of a new cerebroactive drug, fipexide

The effect of a single oral dose of 400 mg fipexide on pituitary secretion was investigated in 10 elderly non-endocrine patients. Fipexide induced significant decrease (P less than 0.05) in serum prolactin (PRL) values at 90 and 120 min after drug administration, without affecting serum growth hormone (GH), gonadotropin (LH and FSH), thyrotropin (TSH) and cortisol values. Fipexide was unable to modify metoclopramide-induced PRL release in five of these patients. Our results show that this drug acts as a mild dopamine (DA) agonist, probably not directly affecting hypothalamic and/or pituitary DA receptors but indirectly via a reduced DA re-uptake at the pre-synaptic level.