Antimanic effect of clonidine

Abstract

The role of nonepinephrine in affective disorders remains the subject of extensive discussion and mesearch. We have undertaken a systematic investigation of the effects of central stimulating or blocking agents of noradrenengic receptors in this context (1 , 2). We hypothesized that the use of a stimulant of a-admenengic pnesynaptic receptors, which reduces the melease of nomepinephrine (3), might be effective in the treatment of manic states. We decided to explore cbonidine because its central effects have received some support. For example, cbonidine has sedative effects (4), a favorable effect on the withdrawal syndrome in drug dependence (5, 6), and the side effect of inducing a depressive syndrome when prescribed for hypertension (4).