Methylene Blue - Medical Uses

Medical Uses

Methylene blue is a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), and if infused intravenously at doses exceeding 5 mg/kg, may precipitate serious serotonin toxicity, serotonin syndrome, if combined with any selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or other serotonin reuptake inhibitor (e.g., duloxetine, sibutramine, venlafaxine, clomipramine, imipramine).

Methylene blue is also structurally similar to chlorpromazine and the typical antipsychotics. It is the basic compound from which chlorpromazine and many other antipsychotics are made.

Methylene blue is a component of a frequently prescribed urinary analgesic/anti-infective/anti-spasmodic known as "Prosed", a combination of drugs which also contains phenyl salicylate, benzoic acid, hyoscyamine sulfate, and methenamine (aka hexamethylenetetramine and not to be confused with 'methanamine').

Read more about this topic:  Methylene Blue

Famous quotes containing the word medical:

    “They said I’d never get you back again.
    I tell you what you’ll never really know:
    all the medical hypothesis
    that explained my brain will never be as true as these
    struck leaves letting go.”
    —Anne Sexton (1928–1974)

    “There may perhaps be a new generation of doctors horrified by lacerations, infections, women who have douched with kitchen cleanser. What an irony it would be if fanatics continued to kill and yet it was the apathy and silence of the medical profession that most wounded the ability to provide what is, after all, a medical procedure.”
    —Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)