The goal of this crossover study was to learn about the potential regulatory role of serotonin in interoceptive processing and its relationship to levels of state anxiety. This experiment directly compared the impact of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) (20mg CITALOPRAM) to that of a PLACEBO on the neural processing of ordinary interoceptive sensations and the relationship of these influences to anxious states.

Healthy young volunteers completed the visceral interoceptive attention task with each treatment condition (citalopram and placebo). The task involves focusing attention on heart, stomach, or visual sensation control while scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The difference in haemodynamic response between interoceptive sensation(s) and visual sensation (i.e. the relative interoceptive response) is compared between treatment conditions. State anxiety is measured at each test period. It is used to test for a moderating effect of state anxiety on the influence of serotonin in interoceptive processing and used post-hoc to explore associations between changes in state anxiety and changes of interoceptive relative interoceptive response due to the SSRI.

Inclusion Criteria:

- healthy volunteer

Exclusion criteria included:

• the presence of significant ongoing medical condition;
• pregnancy or breastfeeding;
• currently taking any medication (excluding contraceptive pill);
• first-degree family history of bipolar disorder;
• an indication of current or historical mental health disorder,
• MRI scanner contraindications (e.g. metallic implants)
• data that is unanalyzable due to movement
• excessive side effects of the drug (e.g. nausea)

Anonymized data will be shared on a publically accessible database with a link accessible through the official publication.

After publication

Public Access