Fluoxetine drug testing

Another study by the same group assessed the use of fluoxetine (Prozac) (20 mg) in a 7-week open trial in 10 adolescents with the commonly occurring triad of SUD, CD, and major depression (Riggs et ah, 1997). Seven of the eight subjects had significant improvement in mood p < 0.001), and the majority reported that the fluoxetine (Prozac) assisted in their substance rehabilitation. The medication was well tolerated and no interactions between fluoxetine (Prozac) and any substances of abuse were reported. There were no positive drug tests for the duration for the study. 

Certain drugs (e.g., ethanol) are known to be strain dependent in their effects and may not produce consistent results in the hole-board test. Many commonly used drugs (e.g., fluoxetine) have pronounced dose-dependent effects on head dipping behavior, and therefore, dosing should be carefully considered see review in (22). 

Proof-of-concept studies have demonstrated that lOOx Cmax is a reasonable scaling factor to differentiate hepatotoxic (or positive) versus nontoxic (or negative) drugs.108 For example, in a family of antidepressant drugs, nefazodone was consistently positive, whereas buspirone and fluoxetine remained negative, but all tested at 100x of their respective single-dose therapeutic Cmax.108... 

The combination of traditional antidepressant drugs (e.g., imipramine) and uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonists (e.g., memantine) may produce enhanced antidepressive effects as a result of synergism. This observation may be of particular importance for the treatment of antidepressant-resistant patients. Most interesting was the observation that fluoxetine, which was inactive in the forced swimming test in rats when given alone, showed a positive effect when combined with memantine (2.5 and 5 mg/kg). 

The concurrent use of fluoxetine 30 to 60 mg and alcohol (4 oz of whiskey) did not affect the pharmacokinetics of either drugs in healthy subjects, and fluoxetine did not alter the effect of alcohol on psychomotor activity (stability of stance, motor performance, manual co-ordination). Similarly, blood-alcohol levels of 80 mg% impaired the performance of a number of psychomotor tests in 12 healthy subjects, but the addition of fluoxetine 40 mg daily taken for 6 days before the alcohol had little further effect. Another study also found no change in the performance of a number of psychophysiological tests when fluoxetine was combined with alcohol. No problems were found in a study of 20 alcohol-dependent patients taking fluoxetine 60 mg daily when they drank alcohol, or in approximately 31 patients taking fluoxetine 20 mg daily who drank unspecified small quantities of alcohol. ... 

---