Abstract
Rationale
The role of serotonin (5-HT) in attention is not fully understood yet.
Objective
We aimed to investigate whether attention is modulated after treatment with escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).
Methods
We administered 10 mg of escitalopram to 20 healthy subjects in a placebo-controlled, double-blind cross-over design for 1 day or to another 20 participants for a period of 7 days. Attention was assessed at time of plasma peak escitalopram concentration using the computerised Attention Network Test (ANT), which is a combined flanker and cued reaction time task.
Results
The results showed differential effects of serotonergic manipulation on attention depending on sequence of intake. For the acute treatment, we found significant differences between escitalopram and placebo for all warning conditions dependent of sequence of intake: participants receiving escitalopram as first treatment showed significant slower reaction times in all warning conditions as compared with placebo while participants receiving escitalopram as second treatment showed significant faster reaction times as compared with placebo. For the sub-chronic treatment, we found significant differences between escitalopram and placebo depending on sequence of intake, but only for the flanker condition: participants receiving escitalopram first had significant slower reaction times in incongruent trials with escitalopram as compared with placebo while participants starting with placebo had significant shorter reaction times in incongruent trials with escitalopram.
Conclusions
Thus, the results showed a differential effect of escitalopram in cognition, especially in attention, and are discussed with regard to an interaction between serotonin and familiarity with the attention test.
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Acknowledgements
This study was a research grant supported in part by H. Lundbeck A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark). Lundbeck was not responsible for the creation of the study, the choice of investigators, the control of allocation schedule, the conduct of the trial, the collection and monitoring of data, the analysis and interpretation and the writing of the manuscript. B. Drueke, J. Baetz, M. Boecker and Prof. Dr. S. Gauggel report no other conflicts of interest. Dr. O. Moeller received travel support from Pfizer and Servier. Prof. Dr. C. Hiemke has served as a consultant for Servier (Paris, France) and Pfizer (New York, NY). He has served on the speakers’ bureau of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen Cilag, Otsuka, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi-Aventis (Berlin, Germany), Lundbeck (Copenhagen, Denmark), Servier and Eli Lilly (Indianapolis, IN). He has received grant supports from Sanofi-Aventis and Pfizer. Prof. Dr. G. Gründer has served as a consultant for Astra Zeneca (London, UK), Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York, NY), Johnson & Johnson (Beerse, Belgium), Otsuka (Rockville, MD) and Pfizer (New York, NY). He has served on the speakers’ bureau of Astra Zeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly (Indianapolis, IN), Janssen Cilag, Otsuka, Pfizer, Servier (Paris, France) and Wyeth (Madison, NJ). He has received grant support from Alkermes (Cambridge, Ma), Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer.
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Drueke, B., Baetz, J., Boecker, M. et al. Differential effects of escitalopram on attention: a placebo-controlled, double-blind cross-over study. Psychopharmacology 207, 213–223 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1649-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1649-6