Psychic energizers

In 1957, Nathan Kline, Harry Loomer and John Saunders, at the Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, New York, reported the first influential assessment of iproniazid as a psychic energizer on non-tubercular psychiatric patients, some of whom were suffering from depression. According to their report, about two-thirds of patients showed a measurable response to the drug. This is about the same response rate that is reported for clinical... 

Drugs used in the treatment of depression are referred to as thymoleptics, thymoanaleptics, psychoanaleptics, psychic energizers, and antidepressants. 

The discovery of the mood-elevating effect of MAO inhibitors was a classic example of serendipity in drug research. In 1951, isoniazid and its isopropyl derivative, iproniazid, were successfully introduced for the treatment of tuberculosis. In contrast to isoniazid, iproniazid was found to produce undesirable stimulation in some patients. In 1952, Zeller and his co-workers demonstrated that iproniazid was capable of inhibiting MAO, whereas isoniazid was ineffective (Zeller and Barsky 1952 Zeller et al. 1952). In 1956, Crane analyzed the psychiatric side-effects of iproniazid and came to the conclusion that it might be beneficial in the treatment of depression (Crane 1956). In 1957 Kline introduced it as a psychic energizer (Kline 1958). At the same time Kuhn discovered the antidepressant effect of imipramine (Kuhn 1957). This opened the way to the most powerful antidepressant therapy to date. 

Deprenyl (we used the racemic compound under the code name E-250 in the first series of experiments) proved to be a compound with a peculiar pharmacological spectrum. We described it in our first paper as a new spectrum psychic energizer (Knoll et al. 1965). I selected this compound for further development because I was fascinated by the finding that in contrast to MAO inhibitors, which potentiated the blood pressure increasing effect of amphetamine, a releaser of norepinephrine from their stores in the noradrenergic nerve terminals, E-250 inhibited it (see Fig. 1 in Knoll et al. 1965). Based on this observation we analyzed this peculiar behavior in more detail. As I expected, the studies revealed that deprenyl, in contrast to the known MAO inhibitors, did not potentiate the effect of tyramine but inhibited it. This effect of deprenyl was first demonstrated in a study performed on cats and on the isolated vas deferens of rats. The hope was expressed in this paper that this... 

Knoll J, Ecseri Z, Kelemen K, Nievel J, Knoll B (1965) Phenylisopropylmethyl-propinylamine (E-250) a new psychic energizer. Arch Int Pharmacodyn Ther.l55 154-164... 

Loomer HP, Saunders JC, Kline NS. A clinical and pharmacodynamic evaluation of iproniazid as a psychic energizer. Psychiatr Res Rep Am Psychiatr Assoc 1957 8 129-141. 

Many alkaloids which act as CNS depressants will be discussed in subsequent chapters, and their structures will be shown later. On the other hand, several ethnologically interesting CNS stimulants, such as psychic energizers and hallucinogens in the area of psychotropic drugs, are known. In this section, such alkaloids will be discussed. 

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