Parachlorophenylalanine Reversal of Tranylcypromine Effects in Depressed Patients

Hospitalized bipolar and unipolar endogenously depressed patients who showed an antidepressant response to the monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, tranylcypromine sulfate, relapsed (ie, depression returned) when relatively small doses of parachlorophenylalanine (PCPA) were added for brief periods. Considered together with our findings that PCPA similarly reversed the antidepressant effects of the tricyclic drug, imipramine hydrochloride, implications are (1) serotonergic mechanisms are likely involved in the antidepressant effects of both the tricyclic drugs and MAO inhibitors in man and (2) this indolamine may also play a role in the endogenous clinical state of depression.