7-day Simvastatin and Emotional Processing

Summary

Work in our group has revealed that short-term (7-day) administration of antidepressants produces positive biases in the processing of emotional information in healthy volunteers. Such effect might be an important neuropsychological mechanism of antidepressant action. The current study will investigate the effect of seven-day administration of simvastatin 20mg on emotional and reward processing tasks in healthy volunteers. There is evidence that statins may exert antidepressant effects via anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant pathways, and it is therefore predicted that simvastatin will have positive effects on emotional and reward processing.

Timeline

Start

2020-12-03

Primary completion

2021-09-01

Completion

2021-09-01

Publications

• De Giorgi R, Quinton AMG, Waters S, Cowen PJ, Harmer CJ. An experimental medicine study of the effects of simvastatin on emotional processing, reward learning, verbal memory, and inflammation in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022 Aug;239(8):2635-2645. doi: 10.1007/s00213-022-06156-y. Epub 2022 May 5.

Drugs

Indications