Possible Interaction: Antidepressive Agents and Tryptophan

“Secondly, l-tryptophan treatment prolongs the antidepressant effect of light therapy.”

“The poor, variable and modest antidepressant efficacy of Trp is due to accelerated hepatic Trp degradation, and efficacy can be restored or enhanced by combination with antidepressants or other existing or new TDO inhibitors.”

“These clinical studies of the PRL response to L-TRP, in conjunction with emerging evidence that experimentally reduced plasma TRP can reverse the therapeutic effects of some antidepressants , suggest that antidepressant drug action may be more accurately conceptualized as 5-HT dependent rather than 5-HT enhancing.”

“and the antidepressant activity of M A 0 inhibitors is enhanced by administration of tryptophan.”

“Encouraging evidence exists for the use of omega-3 fatty acids, SAMe, folic acid and l-tryptophan adjuvantly with antidepressants to enhance response and improve efficacy.”

“Results further-more suggest that the plasma levels of tryptophan and kynurenine at 4 h are poor predictors of the response to l-tryptophan treatment in depressives.”

“Findings are discussed in light of recent evidence that experimentally reduced plasma TRP can reverse the therapeutic effects of some antidepressants.”

“When the population was divided into two groups of patients according to whether subjects started abusing alcohol before or after 20 years of age, associations between a low tryptophan ratio and depressive and aggressive tendencies were significant only in the subgroup of patients with an early onset of alcoholism.”

“Although basal MHPG did not differ among these study groups, loading with L-TRP resulted in MHPG excretion in major depressives being significantly lower than in healthy controls and minor depressives.”

“Loading with L-TRP reduced MHPG excretion significantly by 56% in major depressives , whereas in healthy controls and in minor depressives no significant effects were observed.”

“Other studies have shown that the prolactin response to tryptophan is also enhanced after long-term tricyclic antidepressant treatment in depressed patients and after short- and long-term lithium treatment in healthy subjects.”