Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T06:51:31.539Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comparative trial of L-tryptophan and amitriptyline in depressive illness1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

R. N. Herrington ,
A. Bruce ,
E. C. Johnstone  and
M. H. Lader
R. N. Herrington
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, Institute of Psychiatry, London
A. Bruce
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, Institute of Psychiatry, London
E. C. Johnstone
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, Institute of Psychiatry, London
M. H. Lader*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
2Address for correspondence: Dr M. H. Lader, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

Depressed patients who were suitable for drug treatment were allocated randomly to treatment for four weeks with either amitriptyline in doses reaching 150 mg daily or with l-tryptophan in a maximal dose of 8 G daily. Both in-patients and out-patients were included. The trial was double-blind and ratings were made at the start of treatment and weekly for the subsequent four weeks: the patients were then followed for a further six months. Both groups of patients improved steadily over the course of four weeks and there were no marked differences between the treatment groups though there was some tendency for the improvement of the tryptophan-treated patients to fade between the third and fourth weeks. Within the tryptophan group anxious patients improved least. It is concluded that L-tryptophan probably has some antidepressive action in patients with depressive illness of moderate severity.

Type
Preliminary Communication
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , February 1977 , pp. 673 - 678
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1

This trial was carried out under the auspices of the Committee on Clinical Trials in Psychiatry (now known as the Drug Trials Sub-committee) of the Medical Research Council.

References

REFERENCES

Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965). The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry 111, 659–674.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J., Mowbray, R. M. & Davies, B. M. (1970). Sequential comparison of L-tryptophan with ECT in severe depression. Lancet i, 967–969.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Shaw, D. M. & Farrell, J. P. (1963). Potentiation of the antidepressive effect of a monoamine-oxidase inhibitor by tryptophan. Lancet i, 78–81.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Shaw, D. M., Herzberg, B. & Maggs, R. (1967). Tryptophan in the treatment of depression. Lancet ii, 1178–1180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coppen, A., Whybrow, P. C., Noguera, R., Maggs, R. & Prange, A. J. (1972). The comparative antidepressant value of L-tryptophan and imipramine with and without attempted potentiation by liothyronine. Archives of General Psychiatry 26, 234–241.Google Scholar
Davis, J. M. & Janowsky, D. S. (1974). Recent advances in the treatment of depression. British Journal of Hospital Medicine 12, 219–228.Google Scholar
Dunner, D. L. & Fieve, R. R. (1975). Affective disorder: studies with amine precursors. American Journal of Psychiatry 132, 180–183.Google Scholar
Dunner, D. L. & Goodwin, F. K. (1972). Effect of L-tryptophan on brain serotonin metabolism in depressed patients. Archives of General Psychiatry 26, 364–366.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glassman, A. H. & Platman, S. R. (1969). Potentiation of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor by tryptophan. Journal of Psychiatric Research 7, 83–88.Google Scholar
Herrington, R. N., Bruce, A., Johnstone, E. C. & Lader, M. H. (1974). Comparative trial of L-tryptophan and ECT in severe depressive illness. Lancet ii, 731–734.Google Scholar
Kline, N. S. & Shah, B. K. (1973). Comparable therapeutic efficacy of tryptophan and imipramine: average therapeutic ratings versus ‘true’ equivalence, an important difference. Current Therapeutic Research 15, 484–486.Google Scholar
Knox, W. E. (1966). The regulation of tryptophan pyrrolase activity by tryptophan. Advances in Enzyme Regulation 4, 287–297.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mendels, J., Stinnett, J. L., Burns, D. & Frazer, A. (1975). Amine precursors and depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 32, 22–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, D. L., Baker, M., Goodwin, F. K., Miller, H., Kotin, J. & Bunney, W. E. (1974). L-tryptophan in depressive disorders: indoleamine changes and differential clinical effects. Psychopharmacologia 34, 11–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pare, C. M. B. (1963). Potentiation of monoamine oxidase inhibitors by tryptophan. Lancet ii, 527–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Report to the Medical Research Council by its Clinical Psychiatry Committee (1965). Clinical trial of the treatment of depressive illness. British Medical Journal i, 881–886.Google Scholar
Rickels, K., Chung, H. R., Csanalosi, I., Sablcsky, L. & Simon, J. H. (1973). Iprindole and imipramine in non-psychotic depressed out-patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 123, 329–339.Google Scholar
Wyatt, R. A., Engelman, K., Kupfer, D. J., Fram, D. H., Sjoerdsma, A. & Snyder, F. (1970). Effects of L-tryptophan (a natural sedative) on human sleep. Lancet ii, 842–846.CrossRefGoogle Scholar