| antidepressive agents, tricyclic | Substances that contain a fused three-ring moiety and are used in the treatment of depression. These drugs block the uptake of norepinephrine and serotonin into axon terminals and may block some subtypes of serotonin, adrenergic, and histamine receptors. However the mechanism of their antidepressant effects is not clear because the therapeutic effects usually take weeks to develop and may reflect compensatory changes in the central nervous system. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| tricyclic | <chemistry> Containing three fused rings or closed chains in the molecular structure. (19 Jan 1998) |
| tricyclic antidepressant | <pharmacology> A group of antidepressant medications that share chemical characteristics, side effects and toxicity. Examples include: amitriptyline, amoxapine, clomipramine, desipramine, imipramine, nortriptyline, trimipramine and protriptyline. (19 Jan 1998) |