Therapeutic rationale for low dose doxepin in insomnia patients

Histamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter in central nervous system. It plays an important role in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle. Antidepressant with sleep-promoting effects, for example, doxepin, promotes sleep not through a sedative action but through resynchronisation of circadian cycl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Asian Pacific journal of tropical disease 2013-08, Vol.3 (4), p.331-336
Main Authors: Katwala, Jigar, Kumar, Ananda K, Sejpal, Jaykumar J, Terrence, Marcelle, Mishra, Manish
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Doxepin
Histamine
Insomnia
Review
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Histamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter in central nervous system. It plays an important role in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle. Antidepressant with sleep-promoting effects, for example, doxepin, promotes sleep not through a sedative action but through resynchronisation of circadian cycle. The stimulation of the H1 receptor is thought to play an important role in mediating arousal. Doxepin has a high affinity for the H1 receptor, making it a selective H1 antagonist at low dose and it has been shown to display sedating properties. Compared to other sedative antidepressant, low dose doxepin is the only tricyclic drug which has been evaluated by well-designed, randomised, double blind, placebo controlled studies in both adult and elderly patients. Doxepin is not designated as controlled substance/unscheduled drugs and thus may be of special advantage to use in patients with a history of substance abuse. Hence, well-documented therapeutic efficacy, tolerability and lack of important adverse effects make the low dose doxepin as a unique, rational drug for the treatment of insomnia in adult and elderly patients.
ISSN:2222-1808
2222-1808
DOI:10.1016/S2222-1808(13)60080-8