FATAL POISONING WITH THE ANTIDEPRESSIVE AGENT OPIPRAMOL

An ingestion of an unknown quantity (less than or equal to 3000 mg) of opipramol dihydrochloride in a suicide case is described. Quantitatio n of opipramol and its deshydroxyethyl metabolite was performed simult aneously after liquid-liquid extraction from alkalinized samples prior to HPLC analysis. Postmortem concentrations of opipramol and of the m etabolite in body fluids and organs are given. The distribution patter n of opipramol in tissue was comparable to findings from animal studie s. The results showed the high uptake of opipramol in parenchymal tiss ues resulting in a low blood concentration. A possibly low contributio n of deshydroxyethyl opipramol to the antidepressive effect may be con cluded as the concentration was considerably lower in brain compared t o other organs.