The clinical uses and pharmacology of carbamazepine in psychiatry.
Good evidence now exists for a therapeutic action of carbamazepine (CBZ) both in acute mania and in the prophylaxis of manic depression. Comparison with other existing therapies and incidence of adverse effects in psychiatric patients also deserve more clinical research. This paper reviews these clinical issues and then outlines what is known about the pharmacology of CBZ, in particular comparing it to lithium, the drug with the most similar clinical spectrum of action in psychiatry.
Elphick
M
M
University Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects; D002220:Carbamazepine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D015290:Second Messenger Systems / Q000187:drug effects; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000187:drug effects; D000254:Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase / Q000378:metabolism; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects; D013574:Synaptosomes / Q000187:drug effects
D015222:Sodium Channels; D002220:Carbamazepine; D000254:Sodium-Potassium-Exchanging ATPase