The effect of citalopram pretreatment on neuronal responses to neuropsychological tasks in normal volunteers: an FMRI study.
Changes in serotonin neurotransmission have also been implicated in the etiology and treatment of impulse control disorders, depression, and anxiety. We have investigated the effect of enhancing serotonin function on fundamental brain processes that we have proposed are abnormal in these disorders. In all, 12 male volunteers received citalopram (7.5 mg intravenously) and placebo pretreatment in a single-blind crossover design before undertaking Go/No-go, Loss/No-loss, and covert (aversive) face emotion recognition tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Blood oxygenation level dependent responses were analyzed using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM2). The tasks activated prefrontal and subcortical regions generally consistent with literature with lateral orbitofrontal cortex (BA47) common to the three tasks. Citalopram pretreatment enhanced the right BA47 responses to the No-go condition, but attenuated this response to aversive faces. Attenuations were seen following citalopram in the medial orbitofrontal (BA11) responses to the No-go and No-loss (ie relative reward compared with Loss) conditions. The right amygdala response to aversive faces was attenuated by citalopram. These results support the involvement of serotonin in modulating basic processes involved in psychiatric disorders but argue for a process-specific, rather than general effect. The technique of combining drug challenge with fMRI (pharmacoMRI) has promise for investigating human psychiatric disorders.
Del-Ben
Cristina M
CM
Faculty of Medicine of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.
Deakin
J F William
JF
McKie
Shane
S
Delvai
Nicola A
NA
Williams
Steve R
SR
Elliott
Rebecca
R
Dolan
Mairead
M
Anderson
Ian M
IM
D000328:Adult; D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D015283:Citalopram / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D016037:Single-Blind Method
D018687:Antidepressive Agents, Second-Generation; D015283:Citalopram; D010100:Oxygen