Tricyclic antidepressants , amitriptyline in particular, delay the need for dopaminergic therapy in early Parkinson’s disease.

[Little_apple]

Individuals taking tricyclics antidepressants (amitriptyline in particular) had a lower probability of initiating dopaminergic therapy within the first year of their study. This observation suggested to the researchers that treatment with tricyclic antidepressants may delay the need to initiate dopamine therapy for Parkinson’s.

Amitriptyline treatment resulted in an increase in BDNF in the substantia nigra region both before and during ongoing degeneration, suggesting it may contribute to neuroprotection observed in vivo. Amitriptyline treatment also resulted in an increase in GDNF levels but only before the neurotoxin was given

they concluded that the neuroprotective effect seen in their model was most likely due to the increase in BDNF levels.

Tricyclic antidepressant treatment evokes regional changes in neurotrophic factors over time within the intact and degenerating nigrostriatal system

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

scienceofparkinsons.com/202...

Amitriptyline for sleep:

In addition to its increasing BDNF and therefore slowing neurodegeneration, might help with sleep.

sleepstation.org.uk/article...

[Hidden]

michaeljfox.org/grant/amitr...

Progress Report

The current study compared three common antidepressant medications, amitriptyline, nortriptyline and venlafaxine, for effects on protecting dopamine nerve cells from degeneration in a toxin model of parkinsonism. No protective effect of any of the drugs or doses tested was found. This is in contrast to our previous work showing that amitriptyline can protect dopamine cells, albeit in a less severe degeneration model. Our tentative conclusion is that while antidepressant medications may have a modest protective effect, this positive influence can be overwhelmed in a model of severe, sudden damage to the dopamine system.

January 2014

[Little_apple in reply to Hidden]

MJFF was from 2014

Curiously, the NIH and SOP is more recent.

I believe the antidepressant is a testament to increasing BDNF as being protective which can be achieved by other means.

[Alecomm in reply to Hidden]

Wouldn't it make more sense to utilise compounds that reduce oxidative stress to prevent degeneration? Things like N-acetylcysteine, melatonin, ivermectin are all very strong antioxidants and anti-inflammatories and when combined work synergistically like panadol and nurofen.

[JustJeff]

Pleased to read this as i was prescribed Amitriptyline just before DX because of stiff shoulder muscles and as an aid sleep

[PDWarrior1900]

thanks!

[Alecomm]

I went on amitriptalyne a few years ago now for pain, it's great and for the first time in over twenty years I started sleeping through the night.