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No effects of enhanced central norepinephrine on finger-sequence learning and attention

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Abstract

Rationale

When paired with training, substances that increase monoaminergic transmission in the brain support motor and language learning in healthy subjects and in rehabilitation after brain lesions.

Objectives

To test the hypotheses that enhancement of central norepinephrine by the selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor reboxetine (1) improves skilled motor performance, (2) promotes skilled motor learning, and (3) does not exert these effects by modulation of attention.

Methods

In a double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in healthy, adult subjects (n=16), finger-sequence performance and learning was measured after the stimulation of the central noradrenergic system with a single dose (8 mg) of reboxetine and placebo. Effects on attention were assessed by the standardized continuous performance test “CPT-M”.

Results

No differential effects of reboxetine or placebo on finger-sequence performance, learning and parameters of attention were found.

Conclusion

Selective stimulation of the central noradrenergic system did not promote skilled motor learning or performance as assessed by finger-sequences. The plasticity-enhancing effect of reboxetine, documented in other studies, appears to be dependent on specific neurophysiological and neuropsychological characteristics of the task, and cannot be generalized to other behavioral paradigms.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the German Research Council Collaborative Research Center 550, project C5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center of Clinical Neurosciences, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistr. 52, Hamburg, 20246, Germany

    Julia Hoppe & Christian Gerloff

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Eberhard-Karls University Medical School, Osianderstrasse 24, Tuebingen, 72076, Germany

    Christian Plewnia

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  1. Christian Plewnia
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  2. Julia Hoppe
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  3. Christian Gerloff
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Correspondence to Christian Plewnia.

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Plewnia, C., Hoppe, J. & Gerloff, C. No effects of enhanced central norepinephrine on finger-sequence learning and attention. Psychopharmacology 187, 260–265 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0420-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0420-5

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