The effect of nortriptyline-specific active immunization on amitriptyline toxicity and disposition in the rabbit.

Rabbits were actively immunized by a conjugate of nortriptyline (NT) to study the effect of specific anti-NT antibodies on toxicity and disposition of amitriptyline (AT). Control and immunized rabbits received 115 mg/kg AT intraperitoneally (i.p.). The lethality dose (LD) profile exhibited a gentle slope; LD100 and LD0 were separated by 100 mg/kg. Mortality was significantly reduced from LD67 to LD43 (P less than 0.05). Total plasma concentrations of the toxin were increased in the immunized group compared to the control group. AUC0.5-24 h value was 5-fold higher in the immunized group than in the control group. Moreover, a smaller fraction of unbound toxin in plasma was observed in the immunized group than in the control group. These observations indicate that AT was actively sequestered by antibodies. The intensity of this phenomenon was a function of both the antibody affinity constant (10(9) M-1) and the neutralizing capacity (varying from 0.005 to 0.2 mg/kg) of the circulating antibodies in each immunized rabbit. Results clearly show that anti-NT antibodies are able to effectively sequestrate AT.