Effect of some psychotropic drugs on the activated macrophage-induced luminol-dependent chemiluminescence.

The effect of some psychotropic drugs on the activity of macrophages to produce superoxide radicals during phagocytosis was tested. Three-cyclic antidepressants, imipramine and amitriptyline, and the thioxanthene neuroleptic, chlorprothixene, were studied. The superoxide production was measured by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence. The drugs were investigated in the concentration range of 10(-7)-10(-4) mol/l. It was seen that all tested drugs caused a concentration-dependent decrease of the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence. The inhibitory effect of imipramine and amitriptyline on the macrophage superoxide production was moderate, while the effect of chlorprothixene was significantly stronger (a decrease more than 100 times that of macrophage chemiluminescence). Essentially, the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence reflects the level of superoxide radicals in the system. Therefore, the effect of drugs may be due to the possible activity for scavenging superoxide. In additional experiments with different systems of generations of O2- and different methods of registration, this possibility was discarded. Therefore, the effect of the drugs on the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence seems to be due to drug-induced decrease of the ability of activated macrophages to produce superoxide radicals.