Polymorphic 2-hydroxylation of desipramine. A population and family study.

We have studied desipramine hydroxylation capacity, determined as the metabolic ratio of desipramine to 2-hydroxydesipramine in the urine after a single oral dose of 10 mg of desipramine, in 340 Swedish Caucasians, including the members of 45 two-generation families. Desipramine metabolic ratios were bimodally distributed among 237 unrelated subjects and 8% were poor metabolizers. There was a strong correlation between the metabolic ratios for desipramine and debrisoquine in 337 subjects phenotyped with both drugs and there was no dissociation between their capacities to hydroxylate desipramine and debrisoquine. Complex segregation analysis in the 45 families gave evidence for a major locus with incomplete recessivity (d = 0.14) controlling the 2-hydroxylation of desipramine. Similar results were obtained in segregation analysis for debrisoquine. There was evidence for linkage between the CYP2D6 gene and the gene regulating the hydroxylation of desipramine and debrisoquine. This study has provided unequivocal evidence that the capacity to 2-hydroxylate desipramine is polymorphic and under similar genetic control to the hydroxylation of debrisoquine.