Bedtime doses of prazosin do not affect daytime salivary amylase markers in PTSD

William Vaughn McCall; Anilkumar Pillai; Chirayu D Pandya; Laryssa McCloud; Jason A Moraczewski; Liniya Tauhidul; Nagy A Youssef; Doug Case; Peter B Rosenquist

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01709

Bedtime doses of prazosin do not affect daytime salivary amylase markers in PTSD

Heliyon. 2019 May 11;5(5):e01709. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01709. eCollection 2019 May.

Authors

William Vaughn McCall¹, Anilkumar Pillai¹, Chirayu D Pandya², Laryssa McCloud¹, Jason A Moraczewski³, Liniya Tauhidul³, Nagy A Youssef¹, Doug Case⁴, Peter B Rosenquist¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, 997 St Sebastian Way, Augusta, GA, 30912, USA.
² Medical Laboratory, Imaging, and Radiologic Sciences Department, College of Allied Health Sciences, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.
³ Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.
⁴ Department of Biostatistical Sciences, Division of Public Health Sciences, Wake Forest School of Medicine, USA.

Abstract

Overactivity of the noradrenergic (NE) system within the central nervous system (CNS) has been postulated as a key pathophysiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The activity of the enzyme salivary α-amylase (sAA) has been proposed as an indirect measure of CNS NE activity, and sAA is elevated in PTSD. As an antagonist of the α-1 NE receptor, prazosin would be expected to alter sAA values in PTSD patients. However, given its short half-life, it is not clear whether bedtime doses would have an effect on daytime sAA. In the present study, we assayed daytime sAA in 20 suicidal PTSD patients who were randomized to prazosin versus placebo at bedtime-only, and found no effect in daytime sAA. These findings are consistent with studies showing an advantage for twice daily dosing of prazosin in PTSD.

Keywords: Psychiatry.