Major Depressive Disorder and Oxidative Stress: In Silico Investigation of Fluoxetine Activity against ROS

Major depressive disorder is a psychiatric disease having approximately a 20% lifetime prevalence in adults in the United States (U.S.), as reported by Hasin et al. in JAMA Psichiatry 2018 75, 336–346. Symptoms include low mood, anhedonia, decreased energy, alteration in appetite and weight, irritability, sleep disturbances, and cognitive deficits. Comorbidity is frequent, and patients show decreased social functioning and a high mortality rate. Environmental and genetic factors favor the development of depression, but the mechanisms by which stress negatively impacts on the brain are still not fully understood. Several recent works, mainly published during the last five years, aim at investigating the correlation between treatment with fluoxetine, a non-tricyclic antidepressant drug, and the amelioration of oxidative stress. In this work, the antioxidant activity of fluoxetine was investigated using a computational protocol based on the density functional theory approach. Particularly, the scavenging of five radicals (HO•, HOO•, CH3OO•, CH2=CHOO•, and CH3O•) was considered, focusing on hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and radical adduct formation (RAF) mechanisms. Thermodynamic as well as kinetic aspects are discussed, and, for completeness, two metabolites of fluoxetine and serotonin, whose extracellular concentration is enhanced by fluoxetine, are included in our analysis. Indeed, fluoxetine may act as a radical scavenger, and exhibits selectivity for HO• and CH3O•, but is inefficient toward peroxyl radicals. In contrast, the radical scavenging efficiency of serotonin, which has been demonstrated in vitro, is significant, and this supports the idea of an indirect antioxidant efficiency of fluoxetine.

Graphene/graphite paste electrode incorporated with molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles as a novel sensor for differential pulse voltammetry determination of fluoxetine

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles including highly selective recognition sites for fluoxetine were synthesized, utilizing precipitation polymerization. Methacrylic acid and vinyl benzene were used as functional monomers. Ethylene glycol dimethacrylate was used as cross-linker agent. The obtained polymeric nanoparticles were incorporated with carbon paste electrode (CPE) in order to construct a fluoxetine selective sensor. The response of the MIP-CP electrode to fluoxetine was remarkably higher than the electrode, modified with the non-imprinted polymer, indicating the excellent efficiency of the MIP sites for target molecule recognition. It was found that the addition of a little amount of graphene, synthesized via modified hummer's method, to the MIP-CP resulted in considerable enhancement in the sensitivity of the electrode to fluoxetine. Also, the style of electrode components mixing, before carbon paste preparation, was demonstrated to be influential factor in the electrode response. Some parameters, affecting sensor response, were optimized and then a calibration curve was plotted. A dynamic linear range of 6×10(-9)-1.0×10(-7)molL(-1) was obtained. The detection limit of the sensor was calculated equal to 2.8×10(-9)molL(-1) (3Sb/m). This sensor was used successfully for fluoxetine determination in the spiked plasma samples as well as fluoxetine capsules.

Simultaneous determination of olanzapine and fluoxetine hydrochloride in capsules by spectrophotometry, TLC-spectrodensitometry and HPLC

This paper describes sensitive, accurate and precise spectrophotometric, TLC-spectrodensitometric and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods for simultaneous determination of olanzapine and fluoxetine HCl. Two spectrophotometric methods were developed, namely; first derivative (D¹) and derivative ratio (DD¹) methods. The TLC method employed aluminum TLC plates precoated with silica gel GF₂₅₄ as the stationary phase and methanol:toluene:ammonia (7:3:0.1, by volume) as the mobile phase, where the chromatogram was scanned at 235 nm. The developed HPLC method used a reversed phase C18 column with isocratic elution. The mobile phase composed of phosphate buffer pH 4.0:acetonitrile:triethylamine (53:47:0.03, by volume) at flow rate of 1.0 mL min⁻¹. Quantitation was achieved with UV detection at 235 nm. The methods were validated according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. The selectivity of the proposed methods was tested using laboratory-prepared mixtures. The developed methods were successfully applied for the determination of olanzapine and fluoxetine HCl in bulk powder and combined capsule dosage form.

Determination of fluoxetine in plasma by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using stir bar sorptive extraction

This article presents a method employing stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) with in situ derivatization, in combination with either thermal or liquid desorption on-line coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the analysis of fluoxetine in plasma samples. Ethyl chloroformate was employed as derivatizing agent producing symmetrical peaks. Parameters such as solvent polarity, time for analyte desorption, and extraction time, were evaluated. During the validation process, the developed method presented specificity, linearity (R(2)>0.99), precision (R.S.D.<15%), and limits of quantification (LOQ) of 30 and 1.37 pg mL(-1), when liquid and thermal desorption were employed, respectively. This simple and highly sensitive method showed to be adequate for the measurement of fluoxetine in typical and trace concentration levels.

Solid-phase microextraction–liquid chromatography (SPME–LC) determination of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in plasma using a heated liquid flow through interface

A simple and sensitive procedure using solid-phase microextraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to analyze fluoxetine (FLU) and its metabolite norfluoxetine (nor-FLU) in plasma samples was developed and validated. SPME conditions were optimized employing a factorial design. The sampling step was performed using a PDMS-DVB fiber and desorption was carried out in a novel homemade heated interface. Fluoxetine and norfluoxetine were analyzed by HPLC, using a C18 Phase Sep column (150mmx4.6mm, 3microm) packed "in house", and acetonitrile:acetate buffer 25mmoll(-1) with triethylamine 25mmoll(-1) pH 4.6 (70:30) as the mobile phase. The developed method has shown precision, linearity, specificity, and limit of quantification (LOQ) adequate to assay fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in plasma. Furthermore, the results obtained using the homemade interface has shown an improvement in the desorption process when compared with the results obtained using the off-line mode.

A rapid HPLC-DAD method for the analysis of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in plasma from overdose patients

There is a need for fast, simple and reliable analytical methods for the analysis of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in patients who voluntarily or involuntarily have taken an overdose of the drug. A new liquid chromatographic method with diode array detection is presented herein for the determination of fluoxetine and its main active metabolite in human plasma for toxicological purposes. A mobile phase composed of acetonitrile and aqueous tetramethylammonium perchlorate allows to obtain the complete separation of the analytes on a C18 reversed phase column. The fast and accurate sample pre-treatment step is carried out by means of solid-phase extraction using hydrophilic-lipophilic balance cartridges and loading 100 microL of plasma only. This procedure gives satisfactory extraction yield values, as well as good plasma sample purification from matrix interference. Linearity was obtained in the 150-3000 ng/mL range for both analytes. Selectivity with respect to other psychotropic drugs was satisfactory. The method seems to be suitable for the analysis of fluoxetine and its metabolite in human plasma for depressed patients in overdose.