Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25228885›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in physiology2014

Inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase by tricyclic antidepressants and analogons.

Nadine Beckmann, Deepa Sharma, Erich Gulbins, Katrin Anne Becker, Bärbel Edelmann

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in physiology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
80citing papers in PubMed
4.1field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

80 citing papers in PubMed, 127 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Contradictory Effects on Hepatocytes in ASMD.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
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20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Nadine BeckmannDepartment of Molecular Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany.
Deepa SharmaDepartment of Molecular Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany.
Erich GulbinsDepartment of Molecular Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany.
Katrin Anne BeckerDepartment of Molecular Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany.
Bärbel EdelmannDepartment of Molecular Biology, Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany.
University of Duisburg-Essen · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, has been used in the clinic to treat a number of disorders, in particular major depression and neuropathic pain. In the 1970s the ability of tricyclic antidepressants to inhibit acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) was discovered. The enzyme ASM catalyzes the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin to ceramide. ASM and ceramide were shown to play a crucial role in a wide range of diseases, including cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and major depression, as well as viral (e.g., measles virus) and bacterial (e.g., Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) infections. Ceramide molecules may act in these diseases by the alteration of membrane biophysics, the self-association of ceramide molecules within the cell membrane and the ultimate formation of larger ceramide-enriched membrane domains/platforms. These domains were shown to serve the clustering of certain receptors such as CD95 and may also act in the above named diseases. The potential to block the generation of ceramide by inhibiting the ASM has opened up new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of these conditions. Since amitriptyline is one of the longest used clinical drugs and side effects are well studied, it could potentially become a cheap and easily accessible medication for patients suffering from these diseases. In this review, we aim to provide an overview of current in vitro and in vivo studies and clinical trials utilizing amitriptyline to inhibit ASM and contemplate possible future applications of the drug.

Indexed as

acid sphingomyelinaseamitriptylineantidepressantsceramidesignaling

Identifiers

PMID25228885
PMCPMC4151525
OpenAlexW1969889378

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.