The Effect of Imipramine on Early Information Processing

Birte Glenthoj

Status

Completed

Conditions

Healthy Volunteers

Treatments

Drug: imipramine

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00206999

KF 01-305/99

KF 11-061/03

363052-2

KF 11-096/04

KF 11-068/03

Details and patient eligibility

About

We wanted to compare the relation of two different psychophysiological paradigms (PrePulse Inhibition of the startle response = PPI and P50 suppression) to each other. Additionally, we wanted to test the effect of the combined serotonin- and noradrenaline re-uptake inhibitor, imipramine, on these measures. The primary hypothesis was that PPI and P50 gating would not correlate with each other at baseline. The secondary hypothesis was that increased noradrenergic and serotonergic activity would disrupt PPI as well as P50 gating.

Full description

Schizophrenic patients exhibit impairments in filtering of sensory information, as can be assessed by use of prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response and P50 suppression paradigms. In the treatment of negative symptoms or depressive syndromes during the course of schizophrenia antidepressants are often combined with antipsychotic medication. However, antidepressants increase monoaminergic activity, of which in turn it has been suggested to decrease sensory gating, although these presumptions are mostly based on results from animal studies. Currently, little is known about monoaminergic modulation of sensory filtering in humans, and the few reports that can be found in literature show discrepancies with animal studies. The current study was designed to study the effects of increased monoaminergic activity on sensory filtering and habituation of healthy volunteers. In a double-blind, placebo controlled cross-over design, twenty healthy male volunteers will receive either placebo or a dose of 50 mg of imipramine (a dual acting antidepressant), after which they will be tested in a P50 suppression-, a PPI-, and a habituation of the startle reflex paradigm.

Enrollment

20 patients

Sex

Male

Ages

18 to 35 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Male subjects
Good Physical and Mental Health meeting criteria "never mentally ill", which will be evaluated with a medical history checklist, ECG
Non smokers

Exclusion criteria

Current use of any medication
Any subject who has received any investigational medication within 30 days prior to the start of this study
History of neurologic illness
History of psychiatric illness in first-degree relatives, evaluated with DSM-IV criteria
History of alcohol and drug abuse. Positive urine screening for amphetamine, cocaine, cannabis, or ecstasy.