Antidepressant treatments, including electroconvulsive shock and the putative antidepressant sibutramine hydrochloride, do not alter [3H]-prazosin binding to rat cortical membranes.

Treatment for 1, 3 or 10 days with sibutramine hydrochloride (3 mg/kg), desi pramine (10 mg/kg), amitriptyline (10 mg/kg) or pargyline (10 mg/kg) did not effect the number or affinity of α(1)-adrenoceptors as determined by [(3)H]-prazosin binding to rat cerebral cortical membranes. Similarly, neither single, nor repeated (five times over 10 days) electroconvulsive shocks, given under halothane anaesthesia had any effect on the parameters of [(3)H]-prazosin binding. These data suggest that the clinical actions of these treatments are unlikely to involve changes in α(1)-adrenoceptor function.