phenelzine Pharm.
(fəˈnɛlziːn)
[f. the systematic name 2-phenethylhydrazine, f. phen- + ethyl + hydrazine.]
A monoamine oxidase inhibitor that is used as an anti-depressant, usu. in the form of the sulphate, C6H5CH2CH2NHNH2.H2SO4, a white crystalline solid with a pungent odour.
| 1959 Amer. Jrnl. Psychiatry CXVI. 64/1 Twenty-five patients with depression who entered this hospital on the female service were assigned alternately to Phenelzine and ECT. 1961 Lancet 16 Sept. 622/2 A housewife, aged 56, with depression, had for five months been taking phenelzine..when she suddenly got pruritis, pain behind the eyes, and anorexia, and noticed that she was becoming yellow. 1965 [see Parnate]. 1971 G. G. Luce Body Time iii. 85 Other drugs sometimes used to combat depression, such as phenelzine, have an opposite effect and shorten the sleep cycle. |