An effective sedative (anxiolytic) agent should reduce anxiety and exert a calming effect. The degree of central nervous system (CNS) depression caused by a sedative should be the minimum consistent with therapeutic efficacy. A hypnotic drug should produce drowsiness and encourage the onset and maintenance of a state of sleep. Hypnotic effects involve more pronounced depression of the CNS than sedation, and this can be achieved with many drugs in this class simply by increasing the dose. Graded dose-dependent depression of CNS function is a characteristic of most sedative-hypnotics. However, individual drugs differ in the relationship between the dose and the degree of CNS depression. Two examples of such dose-response relationships are shown in Figure 22–1. The linear slope for drug A is typical of many of the older sedative-hypnotics, including the barbiturates and alcohols. With such drugs, an increase in dose higher than that needed for hypnosis may lead to a state of general anesthesia. At still higher doses, these sedative-hypnotics may depress respiratory and vasomotor centers in the medulla, leading to coma and death. Deviations from a linear dose-response relationship, as shown for drug B, require proportionately greater dosage increments to achieve CNS depression more profound than hypnosis. This appears to be the case for benzodiazepines and for certain newer hypnotics that have a similar mechanism of action.
The benzodiazepines are widely used sedative-hypnotics. All of the structures shown in Figure 22–2 are 1,4-benzodiazepines, and most contain a carboxamide group in the seven-membered heterocyclic ring structure. A substituent in the 7 position, such as a halogen or a nitro group, is required for sedative-hypnotic activity. The structures of triazolam and alprazolam include the addition of a triazole ring at the 1,2-position.
FIGURE 22–1 Dose-response curves for two hypothetical sedative-hypnotics.
The chemical structures of some older and less commonly used sedative-hypnotics, including several barbiturates, are shown in Figure 22–3. Glutethimide and meprobamate are of distinctive chemical structure but are practically equivalent to barbiturates in their pharmacologic effects. They are rarely used. The sedative-hypnotic class also includes compounds of simpler chemical structure, including ethanol (see Chapter 23) and chloral hydrate.
Several drugs with novel chemical structures have been introduced more recently for use in sleep disorders. Zolpidem, an imidazopyridine; zaleplon, a pyrazolopyrimidine; and eszopiclone, a cyclopyrrolone (Figure 22–4), although structurally unrelated to benzodiazepines, share a similar mechanism of action, as described below. Eszopiclone is the (S) enantiomer of zopiclone, a hypnotic drug that has been available outside the United States since 1989. Ramelteon and tasimelteon, melatonin receptor
FIGURE 22–2 Chemical structures of some benzodiazepines.
1 6 R1: R1: CH2 CH3 R1: CH2 CH CH2 R1: CH2 CH3 25 34 R2: R2: CH CH2 CH2 CH3 R2: CH CH2 CH2 CH3 R2:
FIGURE 22–3 Chemical structures of some barbiturates and other sedative-hypnotics.
agonists, are newer hypnotic drugs (see Box: Ramelteon and Tasimelteon). Suvorexant is an orexin antagonist that improves sleep duration. Buspirone is a slow-onset anxiolytic agent whose actions are quite different from those of conventional sedative-hypnotics (see Box: Buspirone).
Other classes of drugs that exert sedative effects include anti-psychotics (see Chapter 29), and many antidepressant drugs (see