Chronobiological Research on Antidepressant Drugs: The Effect of the Antidepressant Drugs, Trazodone and Imipramine on the Circadian Rhythm Using Electroencephalography in Healthy Volunteers.

The effects of the antidepressant drugs trazodone and imipramine on the circadian rhythm were studied by means of the sleep propensity test (SPT; sleep latency was examined by 35-minute EEG records at 09: 00, 11: 00, 13: 00, 15: 00, 17: 00). The subjects were 11 healthy male volunteers (mean age, 23.6 years old). The drugs were administered 4 times a day with single blind trials using an inactive placebo as a control. The dosages of the drugs were trazodone 50-100 mg/day and imipramine 20-40 mg/day. We discussed the circadian rhythm referring to previous polysomnograhy (PSG) studies using the same drugs and dosages with most of the same subjects. As a result, the mean sleep latency of SPT was the shortest at 09: 00 (p