ArticlePsychopharmacology2005
Lamotrigine has an anxiolytic-like profile in the rat conditioned emotional response test of anxiety: a potential role for sodium channels?
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 63 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effect of SSRIs on fear learning: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2023Pooled it
- Decreased BOLD Signal Variability in Middle-Aged and Older Adults on the Autism Spectrum.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Analysis of Anxiety Disorders and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders for Screening Anxiolytic Drugs and Linking Preclinical and Clinical Research.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The effectiveness of lamotrigine for persistent depressive disorder: A case report.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2022Article
- Glutamate Systems in DSM-5 Anxiety Disorders: Their Role and a Review of Glutamate and GABA Psychopharmacology.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Review
- Pharmacotherapy of Anxiety Disorders: Current and Emerging Treatment Options.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2020Review
- Lamotrigine, an antiepileptic drug, inhibits 5-HTThe Korean journal of physiology & pharmacology : official journal of the Korean Physiological Society and the Korean Society of Pharmacology · 2017Article
- Effects of a Flavonoid-Rich Fraction on the Acquisition and Extinction of Fear Memory: Pharmacological and Molecular Approaches.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2015Article
- Scn8a voltage-gated sodium channel mutation alters seizure and anxiety responses to acute stress.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2014Article
- Effect of lamotrigine and carbamazepine on corticotropin-releasing factor-associated serotonergic transmission in rat dorsal raphe nucleus.Psychopharmacology · 2012Article
- Antidepressant-like properties of oral riluzole and utility of incentive disengagement models of depression in mice.Psychopharmacology · 2012Article
- Differential effects of MPEP and diazepam in tests of conditioned emotional response and Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer suggests 'anxiolytic' effects are mediated by different mechanisms.Psychopharmacology · 2009Article
- Pharmacodynamics of memantine: an update.Current neuropharmacology · 2008Article
- Antiepileptic drugs for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.Current psychiatry reports · 2007Review
- Heterozygosity for a protein truncation mutation of sodium channel SCN8A in a patient with cerebellar atrophy, ataxia, and mental retardation.Journal of medical genetics · 2006Article
- A comparison of chlordiazepoxide, bretazenil, L838,417 and zolpidem in a validated mouse Vogel conflict test.Psychopharmacology · 2005Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleMany anticonvulsants are used in disorders other than epilepsy. For example, lamotrigine is reported to be effective in post-traumatic stress disorder and mania.
objectiveWe assessed the effects of the anticonvulsants lamotrigine, valproate and carbamazepine in an animal model of anxiety. We assessed a wide range of pharmacological tools to delineate the mechanism of lamotrigine's anxiolytic effect.
methodsWe assessed these compounds in the rat conditioned emotional response (CER) test of anxiety.
resultsLamotrigine (30-80 mg/kg) dose-dependently and reproducibly engendered an anxiolytic response in this test, with similar efficacy to benzodiazepines. Carbamazepine (20-40 mg/kg) and riluzole (10 mg/kg), which block Na+ channels by a similar mechanism as lamotrigine, were also anxiolytic. By contrast, valproate (100-600 mg/kg) was inactive and appears to differ in its interaction with Na+ channels. The SSRI paroxetine, the GABA(A) receptor positive modulator propofol, the NMDA antagonists memantine and (+)MK-801, and the Ca2+ channel antagonist nifedipine were all inactive in the CER test, suggesting these mechanisms may not mediate the anxiolytic effect of lamotrigine. More directly, we showed that the anxiolytic effect of lamotrigine could be blocked by co-administering rats with the Na+ channel activator veratrine (0.1 mg/kg). By contrast, neither the Ca2+ channel agonist BAYK8644 (0.5 mg/kg) nor the 5-HT1A or 5-HT(1/2) antagonists WAY100635 (0.3 mg/kg) and metergoline (3 mg/kg), respectively, were able to block the effect.
conclusionLamotrigine's anxiolytic effect in the CER test may be mediated via block of Na+ channels, and this may represent a target for the development of novel anxiolytics.
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