Pyrazidol, a new drug with antidepressant properties.

During the search for new psychotropic drugs, a group of pyrazinoindole derivatives have been synthetized at the All Union Chemical Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Especially effective and having antidepressant activities is the hydrochloride of 1,10-trimethylene-8-methyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrazino (1,2-a) indole, named pyrazidol. Pyrazidol differs from any already known antidepressant for its chemical structure, the general pattern of activity and its neurochemical mechanism of action. The drug combines an inhibiting action on the neuronal uptake of monoamines with a monoamineoxidase inhibiting activity. As MAO-inhibitor, pyrazidol mainly impairs serotonin deamination, and acts only slightly on tyramine deamination. Furthermore, the anti-MAO action of pyrazidol is of short duration. Then, pyrazidol constitutes a drug with a particular profile of therapeutic activity.