Pentylenetetrazol

Common card · No. 466615

Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ), or pentylenetetrazole, also known as pentetrazol (INNTooltip International Nonproprietary Name) and sold under the brand name Metrazol, is a drug formerly used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convulsions, as discovered by Hungarian-American neurologist and psychiatrist Ladislas J. Meduna in 1934. It has been used in convulsive therapy, and was found to be effective in treating depression, but side effects, such as uncontrolled seizures, were difficult to avoid. In 1939, pentylenetetrazol was replaced by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is easier to administer, as the preferred method for inducing seizures in England's mental hospitals. In the US, pentylenetetrazol's approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was revoked in 1982. It is used in Italy as a cardio-respiratory stimulant in combination with dihydrocodeine in a cough suppressant drug.

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