chemistry

Loxapine

Loxapine is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Loxapine rather than just read about it. In short: Loxapine, sold under the brand names Loxitane and Adasuve (inhalation only) among others, is a tricyclic antipsychotic medication used primarily in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is a member of the dibenzoxazepine class and structurally very similar to clozapine.

Key takeaways

Loxapine belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Loxapine to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Loxapine from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Loxapine, sold under the brand names Loxitane and Adasuve (inhalation only) among others, is a tricyclic antipsychotic medication used primarily in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It is a member of the dibenzoxazepine class and structurally very similar to clozapine. Several researchers have argued that loxapine, initially classified as a typical antipsychotic, behaves as an atypical antipsychotic. Loxapine may be metabolized by N-demethylation to amoxapine, a tricyclic antidepressant.

Medical uses

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved loxapine inhalation powder for the acute treatment of agitation associated with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder in adults. A brief review of loxapine found no conclusive evidence that it was particularly effective in patients with schizophrenia. A subsequent systematic review considered that the limited evidence did not indicate a clear difference in its effects from other antipsychotics.

Available forms Loxapine can be taken by mouth. It is also available as an intramuscular injection and as a powder for inhalation.

Side effects Loxapine can cause side effects that are generally similar to that of other antipsychotic medications. These include, e.g., gastrointestinal problems (like constipation and abdominal pain), cardiovascular problems (like tachycardia), moderate likelihood of drowsiness (relative to other antipsychotics), and movement problems (i.e. extrapyramidal symptoms [EPS]). At lower dosages its propensity for causing EPS appears to be similar to that of atypical antipsychotics. Although it is structurally similar to clozapine, it has much lower risk of agranulocytosis (which, even with clozapine, is 0.8%); however, mild and temporary fluctuations in blood leukocyte levels can occur. Abuse of loxapine has been reported. The inhaled formulation of loxapine carries a low risk for a type of airway adverse reaction called bronchospasm that is not thought to occur when loxapine is taken by mouth.

Pharmacology

Mechanism of action

Some scientists say loxapine is a "mid-potency" typical antipsychotic. However, unlike most other typical antipsychotics, it has significant potency at the 5-HT2A receptor (6.6 nM), which is similar to atypical antipsychotics like clozapine (5.35 nM). The higher likelihood of EPS with loxapine, compared to clozapine, may be due to its higher affinity for the dopamine D2 receptor compared to clozapine, which has one of the lowest binding affinities at the D2 receptor of any antipsychotic.

Use as an inhaled agitation medication Loxapine has a relatively strong safety profile compared to similar antipsychotic drugs, such as quetiapine, olanzapine, and clozapine, with a relatively lower incidence of metabolic side-effects (although higher extrapyramial side-effects). Given its strong safety profile and speed/efficacy when given intramuscularly for acute agitation, an inhaled version of the drug (Adasuve) has been developed to be applied nasally for agitated patients needing to be rapidly de-escalated.

Pharmacokinetics Loxapine is metabolized to amoxapine, as well as its 8-hydroxy metabolite (8-hydroxyloxapine). Amoxapine is further metabolized to its 8-hydroxy metabolite (8-hydroxyamoxapine), which is also found in the blood of people taking loxapine. At steady-state after taking loxapine by mouth, the relative amounts of loxapine and its metabolites in the blood is as follows: 8-hydroxyloxapine > 8-hydroxyamoxapine > loxapine. The pharmacokinetics of loxapine change depending on how it is given. Intramuscular injections of loxapine lead to higher blood levels and area under the curve of loxapine than when it is taken by mouth.

Chemistry Loxapine is a dibenzoxazepine and is structurally very similar to clozapine, an atypical antipsychotic.

References

External links "Loxapine". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Loxapine

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Loxapine claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Loxapine before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Loxapine ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Loxapine

In research: Loxapine appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Loxapine in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Loxapine is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 4-Methylpiperazin-1-yl compounds, Alpha-1 blockers, Alpha-2 blockers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Loxapine outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Loxapine” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Loxapine in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Loxapine means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Loxapine out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Loxapine in simple terms?

Why does Loxapine matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Loxapine?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Loxapine.