The sodium and potassium pump Na+,K+ -ATPase is an enzyme that oscillates between two major conformations E1 and E2 during the ion transport cycle across membranes. The cardiotonic steroid ouabain specifically inhibits this enzyme by binding to the E2 conformation. The fluorescent label anthroylouabain (AO) presents increased fluorescence when binding to the ouabain site of Na+,K+ - ATPase. Tricyclic drugs such as the antipsychotic chlorpromazine (CPZ) and the antidepressant nortriptyline (NOR) inhibit Na+,K+ -ATPase activity at clinically relevant concentrations. In the present work the effects of NOR and CPZ on the fluorescence properties of AO-bound Na+,K+ -ATPase of electrocyte membranes from E. electricus were studied. Nortriptyline was found to increase the AO fluorescence in a concentration and conformation-dependent manner. The association constant between NOR and Na+,K+ -ATPase was obtained. The results suggested that the binding of NOR shifts the conformation equilibrium of the enzyme towards E2. CPZ, on the other hand, induced negligible fluorescence change up to 10 µM. Ultraviolet irradiation, however, provoked photo-induced reactions of CPZ with Na+,K+ -ATPase, which modified the kinetics of CPZphotodegradation, as demonstrated by the fluorescent products. The photolabeling of Na+,K+ -ATPase with CPZ also modified the local structure of the ouabain site inducing a blue shift and a considerable increase of the AO quantum yield. The results suggest that CPZ binds to Na+,K+ -ATPase and photolabels amino-acid residues near the ouabain binding site. The CPZ-associated phototoxicity pointed to its potential use in photochemotherapy.