Imipramine enhancement of pentobarbital toxicity in rats.

The toxicity of pentobarbital was examined in male Wistar rats pretreated with a non-toxic dose of imipramine (10 mg/kg, po). Pentobarbital (70 mg/kg, ip) lethality was enhanced up to 6 hr after imipramine administration, and pentobarbital (45 mg/kg, ip) sleeping time was prolonged up to 12 hr after imipramine. Physiological measurements showed that imipramine pretreatment 2 hr prior to pentobarbital (70 mg/kg, ip) enhanced barbiturate depression in mean blood pressure, oxygen consumption and respiration rate, but not in heart rate or back skin temperature. Analysis of brain radioactivity after [14C] pentobarbital indicated that these effects of imipramine were not solely the result of inhibition of liver metabolism.