Changes in cardiovascular function after venlafaxine but not pregabalin in healthy volunteers: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of orthostatic challenge, blood pressure and heart rate.

It is generally thought that venlafaxine raises blood pressure at higher doses; however, some studies have found no effect or a decrease in blood pressure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cardiovascular (CV) effects of 3 weeks of dosing with venlafaxine, pregabalin and placebo on young healthy adults. Fifty-four participants, of mean age 23.

The effect of a clinically effective and non-effective dose of lorazepam on 7.5% CO₂-induced anxiety.

Symptoms of anxiety induced by 7.5% CO₂ inhalation can be attenuated by acute administration of GABA(A) receptor anxiolytics such as lorazepam and alprazolam. This study investigated if these effects are dose-related, by comparing a 0.

Evaluation of the effects of venlafaxine and pregabalin on the carbon dioxide inhalation models of Generalised Anxiety Disorder and panic.

Previous studies have shown that subjective and objective symptoms of anxiety induced by 7.5% CO(2) inhalation can be attenuated by anxiolytics such as lorazepam and, to a lesser extent, paroxetine. Venlafaxine and pregabalin, two other licensed treatments for Generalised Anxiety Disorder, were used to further investigate the 7.

The administration of psilocybin to healthy, hallucinogen-experienced volunteers in a mock-functional magnetic resonance imaging environment: a preliminary investigation of tolerability.

This study sought to assess the tolerability of intravenously administered psilocybin in healthy, hallucinogen-experienced volunteers in a mock-magnetic resonance imaging environment as a preliminary stage to a controlled investigation using functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the effects of psilocybin on cerebral blood flow and activity. The present pilot study demonstrated that up to 2 mg of psilocybin delivered as a slow intravenous injection produces short-lived but typical drug effects that are psychologically and physiologically well tolerated. With appropriate care, this study supports the viability of functional magnetic resonance imaging work with psilocybin.

The use of sleep measures to compare a new 5HT1A agonist with buspirone in humans.

The partial agonist buspirone has a REM (rapid eye movement) suppressing effect on human sleep probably via a 5HT(1A) receptor in the pontine area. Eptapirone is a new 5HT(1A) agonist with a greater intrinsic effect than buspirone. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of eptapirone on sleep architecture, particularly REM sleep, in normal volunteers and compare it with buspirone and placebo.

Tryptophan depletion reverses the therapeutic effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in social anxiety disorder.

Background: Tryptophan depletion studies have suggested that central serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) function mediates the therapeutic effect of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in depression and panic disorder. The present study tested the hypothesis that temporary reduction in central 5-HT transmission, through acute tryptophan depletion, could reverse the therapeutic effect of the SSRIs in social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients.

Methods: Fourteen patients with SAD who showed sustained clinical improvement with SSRI treatment underwent tryptophan depletion in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, over 2 days 1 week apart.

Correlation of subjective and objective sleep measurements at different stages of the treatment of depression.

Studies of the correlation of subjective and objective sleep measures in depressed patients have produced mixed results so far. Further, they were carried out in sleep laboratories and tended to obtain one-off assessments, thus not taking into account the effect of treatment. We investigated forty (40) patients over the course of 8-week treatment of depression with either paroxetine or nefazodone.

Inhalation of 35% CO(2) results in activation of the HPA axis in healthy volunteers.

Background: The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a major stress responsive system in humans. Although there are numerous ways of testing responsiveness of the HPA in experimental animals, this is much more difficult in man. Hypercapnea is a very stressful stimulus for humans and has been used as an anxiogenic probe in psychiatric patients.