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Differential effects of reboxetine and citalopram on hand-motor function in patients suffering from major depression

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Abstract

Rationale

Motor dysfunctions might be a more common side effect of serotonergic than noradrenergic antidepressants. However, the effects of antidepressants on motor function in depression have rarely been analyzed systematically. Computerized methods allow the objective registration of drug-induced motor dysfunction and were applied in this study.

Objectives

To examine the effects of a selective noradrenaline re-uptake inhibitor (NARI) (reboxetine) and a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) (citalopram) on hand-motor function in patients with major depression.

Methods

Different types of hand movements (drawing of circles and handwriting probes) were recorded and analyzed in 16 acutely depressed inpatients receiving citalopram (30–60 mg/day) and 12 acutely depressed inpatients treated with reboxetine (4–8 mg/day), using a digitizing tablet for the analysis of movement dynamics. Both groups were comparable regarding mean age (42–43 years), gender, handedness (preponderance of right-handers) and the mean baseline HAMD score (about 27). Five kinematical parameters reflecting velocity, regularity and degree of automation of hand movements have been computed.

Results

Reboxetine had significantly more favorable effects on fine motor function (increased velocity of rapid hand movements) in depressed patients than citalopram. These differences became obvious when patients conducted more complex tasks and are not explained by differential antidepressant effects.

Conclusions

Our findings are in line with the hypothesis that SSRI tend to have small, but more pronounced negative effects on motor function than NARI.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the patients for their readiness to participate in our study. This project was partly supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research within the promotional emphasis “German Network on Depression” (Subproject 6.3) and Pharmacia Upjohn, Inc., Germany. The experiment complies with the current laws of the country in which it was performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Nußbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany

    Ulrich Hegerl, Roland Mergl, Verena Henkel, Oliver Pogarell, Florian Müller-Siecheneder & Thomas Frodl

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Wilhelm-von-Humboldt-Universität, Charité, Schumannstr. 20–21, 10117, Berlin, Germany

    Georg Juckel

Authors
  1. Ulrich Hegerl
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  2. Roland Mergl
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  3. Verena Henkel
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  4. Oliver Pogarell
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  5. Florian Müller-Siecheneder
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  6. Thomas Frodl
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  7. Georg Juckel
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Correspondence to Ulrich Hegerl.

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Hegerl, U., Mergl, R., Henkel, V. et al. Differential effects of reboxetine and citalopram on hand-motor function in patients suffering from major depression. Psychopharmacology 178, 58–66 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-1983-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-004-1983-7

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