The purpose of this study is to determine whether 75 mg amitriptyline affect the sleep dependent consolidation of procedural memory (visual discrimination task, Karni-Sagi-paradigm).
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is considered critical to the consolidation of procedural memory - the memory of skills and habits. Many antidepressants strongly suppress REM sleep, however, and procedural memory consolidation has been shown to be impaired in depressed patients on antidepressant therapy. As a result, it is important to determine whether antidepressive therapy can lead to amnestic impairment. We thus investigate the effects of the anticholinergic antidepressant amitriptyline on sleep-dependent memory consolidation in 32 healthy men in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized parallel-group study.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
32
amitriptyline 25 mg at 9:30 pm, day 10, and 50 mg at 1:30 am, day 11
placebo(white 8 mm Lichtenstein®) at 9:30 pm, day 10, and at 1:30 am, day 11
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Department of Physiology CBF
Berlin, Germany
changes in the visual discrimination task's perception threshold
Improvement in this task is defined as a decrease in the perception threshold between training and retrieval testing.
Time frame: The visual discrimination task's perception treshold is assessed before sleep (day 10 at 6 pm) and after sleep (day 11 at 6 pm).
amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (sleep period time percentage)
Time frame: night from day 10 to day 11
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