Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 10, 2026
How to Study Placebo Responses in Motion Sickness with a Rotation Chair Paradigm in Healthy Participants
Published on: December 14, 2014
Cardiovascular effects of imipramine, fluvoxamine, and placebo in depressed outpatients
L K Laird1, R B Lydiard, W A Morton
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
Background:
The data presented represent cardiovascular parameters collected from one site of a larger, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 6-week outpatient efficacy study of the serotonin uptake inhibitor fluvoxamine in depressed outpatients.
Method:
In this smaller study, we compared fluvoxamine (N = 17) to the prototypic antidepressant, imipramine (N = 14), and to placebo (N = 15). Specific parameters investigated were drug effects on postural pulse and blood pressure changes and ECG parameters including PR, QRS, and QTc intervals and ventricular heart rate.
Results:
Fluvoxamine had few effects on measured parameters. Imipramine produced statistically significant changes on all measures; placebo had no effects on cardiac measures.
Conclusion:
Our data support that fluvoxamine, in a sample of healthy depressed outpatients, has little effect on cardiovascular function. Further study and clinical experience with this drug will be necessary before the full extent of its cardiac profile is known.
Related Concept Videos
01:54The Placebo Effect
01:21Drugs Affecting Neurotransmitter Release or Uptake
01:25Antidepressant Drugs: Overview
01:28Antidepressant Drugs: Tricyclics, SSRIs, and SNRIs
01:23Antidepressant Drugs: MAOIs and Other Agents
01:17Sedatives and Hypnotics Drugs: Miscellaneous Agents
Melatonin congeners like ramelteon (Rozerem) and tasimelteon (Hetlioz) selectively bind to melatonin receptors (MT1 and MT2) and thus mimic the actions of melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles. Tasimelteon is primarily used for non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder, common in blind patients. They are also used to treat conditions like insomnia...