Quantitative analysis of tricyclic antidepressants in serum from psychiatric patients.

A method for the quantitative analysis of tricyclic antidepressants in the serum of psychiatric patients is described. The method can be used for determining amitriptyline, nortriptyline, imipramine, demethyllimipramine, clomipramine, demethylclomipramine, trimipramine and protriptyline. The method consists in a series of extraction steps followed by gas chromatography with flame-ionization detector. The drugs are determined in their native state. The internal standard method is used for the quantitation.