STRUCTURAL AND CONCENTRATION EFFECTS ON THE DEPOSITION OF TRICYCLIC ANTIDEPRESSANTS IN HUMAN HAIR

In order to elucidate the possibility of a long-term compliance analys is the hair samples of 56 patients, who were under a permanent treatme nt with tricyclic antidepressants, were analyzed for amitriptyline, cl omipramine, doxepine, imipramine and maprotiline as well as their nor- metabolites. The hair concentrations varied between 0.4 and 40 ng/mg w ith no strong difference between the five drugs. In comparison to the therapeutic plasma levels described in literature the nor-metabolites always accumulate less in hair than drugs. No correlation was found be tween the hair concentration and the daily dose. The investigation of the full hair length in 3-cm sections for several examples of all five drugs shows that they can be detected in normally kept hair at least 1 year after intake. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.