ABSTRACT
Drugs .................................................................................................................................. 184 11.7 Computational Methods to Rationalize Tricyclic Antidepressant (TCA) Immunoassay
Cross-reactivity ................................................................................................................... 185 11.8 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 186 References ...................................................................................................................................... 187
Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are a class of drugs first discovered in the 1950s that have traditionally been used for the treatment of major depression [1] (see Figure 11.1 for examples of their chemical structures). TCAs were the dominant antidepressants in the United States for several decades extending into the late 1980s. Other important therapeutic uses of TCAs include treatment of chronic pain (especially amitriptyline), enuresis (imipramine), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (clomipramine) [1,2]. However, therapeutic use of TCAs for treatment of major depression has decreased significantly with the introduction of other newer classes of antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) [1].
