The Influence of Amitriptyline on Learning in a Visual Discrimination Task

The Influence of Amitriptyline (Amitriptylin-CT 25 mg®) on Learning in a Visual Discrimination Task (Karni-Sagi-paradigm)

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01566825

Enrollment

Registered

2012-03-29

Start date

2008-08-31

Completion date

2009-05-31

Last updated

2012-03-29

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Healthy Subjects

Keywords

amitriptyline, sleep dependent memory consolidation

Brief summary

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).

Detailed description

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.

Interventions

DRUGAmitriptyline

amitriptyline 25 mg at 9:30 pm, day 10, and 50 mg at 1:30 am, day 11

DRUGPlacebo

placebo(white 8 mm Lichtenstein®) at 9:30 pm, day 10, and at 1:30 am, day 11

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Masking

TRIPLE (Subject, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

MALE

Age

18 Years to 40 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* male gender * age 18 through 40 years * ability to communicate effectively in German

Exclusion criteria

* shift work within the past 24 months * any sleep disorder as measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index * irregular sleep/wake patterns or extreme chronotype as measured by the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire * history of any neurologic or psychiatric disorders * regular medication intake within the past four weeks * contraindications for amitriptyline * abnormal electrocardiogram (ECG)

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
changes in the visual discrimination task's perception threshold	The visual discrimination task's perception treshold is assessed before sleep (day 10 at 6 pm) and after sleep (day 11 at 6 pm).	Improvement in this task is defined as a decrease in the perception threshold between training and retrieval testing.

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (sleep period time percentage)	night from day 10 to day 11

Countries

Germany

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026