[Behavioral effects of a new antidepressant, setiptiline]

Behavioral effects of setiptiline, a new tetracyclic compound (1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-2-methyl-9H-dibenzo [3,4:6,7] cyclohepta [1,2-C] pyridine maleate), were investigated to determine its pharmacological characteristics as an antidepressant in rats and mice, as compared with amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, and promethazine, a neuroleptic possessing an antihistaminic profile. Setiptiline exerted a weak stimulatory action on ambulation, spontaneous motor-activity, observed by the open field method in rats and potentiated the stimulatory effects of methamphetamine. Setiptiline also shortened the duration of immobility in rats forced to swim and inhibited catalepsy induced by haloperidol, yawning by physostigmine, body shaking as well as head twitch by 5-hydroxytryptophan in combination with Ro4-4602 and body shaking by morphine-withdrawal in rats. On the other hand, the drug did not exhibit an antagonistic effect on the hypothermia produced by reserpine in mice. From the results, it is suggested that setiptiline seems to have antidepressive activities that are pharmacologically dissimilar to those of tricyclic antidepressants.