Relationship between blood and cerebrospinal levels of the antidepressant agent viloxazine

Viloxazine levels in blood and CSF have been measured following acute and chronic dosing in depressed patients. Blood profiles confirm previous findings that viloxazine is rapidly absorbed and eliminated with a half-life of 4.5 h. Viloxazine crosses the blood-brain barrier and concentrations in CSF remain virtually unchanged over a ten hour period post administration. Viloxazine does not accumulate in CSF on chronic administration. The fact that CSF levels do not reflect concentrations in blood has significant implications on any attempt to correlate the clinical efficacy and the pharmacokinetic behaviour of an antidepressant agent.