GENOTOXICITY AND ITS MECHANISM OF ANTIDEPRESSANT AND ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS: A REVIEW

Abstract

Antidepressants and antipsychotics are the CNS drugs which are used to treat CNS disorders like depression and psychosis respectively. They are known to act upon their respective receptors in the brain and stabilize the condition. Knowing to have a few side effects and extrapyramidal effects for the drugs, genotoxicity was also one of the major adverse effects of such drugs. Identification of genotoxic antidepressants as a long term medication is important to avoid their prescription. This review gives knowledge about the mechanism of action of the drugs through which they cause the toxic effect on the genetic material. It is known the reactive oxygen species play a major role in causing the maximum damage to the DNA. Few antidepressants like Fluoxetine, sertraline and antipsychotics like chlorpromazine, Phenothiazine are known to cause the high degree of toxicity when compared to other such drugs of the same category. This review provides a piece of basic information regarding the genotoxic effects of antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs.