Psychology Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Assessment | Biopsychology | Comparative | Cognitive | Developmental | Language | Individual differences | Personality | Philosophy | Social |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |

Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Neuroscience · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology (Index, Outline)


Tetrabenazine chemical structure
Tetrabenazine

1,3,4,6,7,11b-Hexahydro- 9,10-dimethoxy-3- (2-methylpropyl)- 2H-benzo[a]quinoline; Ro-1-9569
IUPAC name
CAS number
58-46-8
ATC code

N05AK01

PubChem
6018
DrugBank
[1]
Chemical formula {{{chemical_formula}}}
Molecular weight 317.427
Bioavailability
Metabolism
Elimination half-life
Excretion
Pregnancy category
Legal status Orphan drug
Routes of administration tablets: 25 mg

Tetrabenazine is a drug for the symptomatical treatment of hyperkinetic movement disorder and is marketed under the trade names Nitoman® in Canada and Xenazine® in New Zealand and some parts of Europe, and is also available in the USA as an orphan drug. The compound is known since the 1950s. Tetrabenazine works mainly as a VMAT-inhibitor[1] and as such promotes the early metabolic degradation of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Common uses[]

Tetrabenazine is used as a treatment, but not a cure for hyperkinetic disorders[2] such as:

Side effects[]

Because tetrabenazine is closely related to the antipsychotics, many of its side effects are similar. Some of these include:

  • Depression - the most common side effect, reported in roughly 15% of those who take the medication
  • Dizziness/drowsiness
  • Akathisia (aka "restless pacing" - an inability to keep still, with intense anxiety when forced to do so)
  • Parkinsonism

Unlike many of the antipychotics, tetrabenazine is not known to cause Tardive dyskinesia, and in fact can be an effective treatment for the antipsychotic-induced movement disorder.

Warnings[]

  • Because of the relatively high incidence of depression, it has been recommended that people with a history of depression avoid taking tetrabenazine. Research into this is ongoing however, and this warning may be dropped in the future.
  • The concomitant intake of MAO inhibitors is contraindicated.

References[]

  1. Guangrong Zheng et al. (2006): "Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2: Role as a Novel Target for Drug Development", AAPSJ. Fulltext
  2. Jankovic J, Beach J (1997). Long-term effects of tetrabenazine in hyperkinetic movement disorders.. Neurology 48 (2): 358-62. PMID 9040721.

External links[]


Template:Other nervous system drugs]]


This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).
Advertisement