The Effects of Venlafaxine on Cortical Motor Area Activity in Healthy Subjects

Abstract

In the study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging associated with behavioral assessment to observe the effects of venlafaxine on the modulation of human motor cortex activation and to provide preliminary data for further assessing its influence on motor functional reorganization after stroke injury. In a randomized, double-blind, crossover study, 8 right-handed subjects received 75 mg of either venlafaxine or a placebo daily over a period of 7 days separated by 3 washout days. The volunteers were asked to execute motor tasks, which included the dynamometer and finger-tapping test. In addition, laboratory tests and functional magnetic resonance imaging examination, before the start of the experiment and after administration of placebo and venlafaxine, were performed. It was shown that the finger-tapping rate of each hand in the venlafaxine stage was significantly improved compared with that observed in the placebo stage (n = 8, F left hand = 57.69, F right hand = 184.48, P < 0.001). The changes in the recorded grip strengths of both hands were not significant between the stages (n = 8, F = 2.63, P > 0.05). In the venlafaxine stage, the activations of the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex, contralateral premotor cortex, and contralateral supplementary motor area were enhanced significantly, whereas the activation of the bilateral parietal cortices was decreased when compared with the placebo stage. Meanwhile, the enhancement of contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex activation had a positive correlation with the improvement of the finger-tapping rate. It was concluded that venlafaxine could modulate the cortical excitability and improve finger dexterity and reaction speed, which greatly related to the increase of contralateral motor cortical excitability.

Venlafaxine and oxycodone have different effects on spinal and supraspinal activity in man: a somatosensory evoked potential study

“…Hence, we do not consider the small changes in Erb's point latencies to be meaningful. Venlafaxine also decreased the spinal Cv7 latency, which could imply an increased neuronal excitability and improved motor response, as has been shown previously in a functional magnetic resonance imaging study . Oxycodone, on the other hand, did not change any of the parameters of spinal EPs.…”

Transcriptional Evidence for the Role of Chronic Venlafaxine Treatment in Neurotrophic Signaling and Neuroplasticity Including also Glutatmatergic- and Insulin-Mediated Neuronal Processes

“…On the other side, earlier preliminary studies and a recent meta-analysis confirmed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors improve motor recovery after stroke, even in people who were actually not depressed [15] , [16] . In a randomized, double blind, crossover study 1 week treatment with VLX significantly improved finger-tapping rate, a motor task compared to placebo [17] . This improvement showed positive correlation with the activation of sensory and motor cortical areas caused by the drug [17] .…”

“…In a randomized, double blind, crossover study 1 week treatment with VLX significantly improved finger-tapping rate, a motor task compared to placebo [17] . This improvement showed positive correlation with the activation of sensory and motor cortical areas caused by the drug [17] .…”

Differential effects of oxycodone and venlafaxine on resting state functional connectivity—A randomized placebo‐controlled magnetic resonance imaging study

“…Previous studies have proposed that venlafaxine improves attention, motor activity, and response time . To observe the effects of venlafaxine on the human motor cortex, a study using fMRI in combination with different motor tasks showed that one‐week treatment improved the finger‐tapping rate and increased the activations of contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex, contralateral premotor cortex, and contralateral supplementary motor area . On the other hand, the authors found the activation of the parietal cortices was decreased.…”