Trial reportTranslational psychiatry2018
Effect of valproate and pregabalin on human anxiety-like behaviour in a randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Translational psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human approach-avoidance conflict behaviour relates to transdiagnostic psychiatric symptom dimensions.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Valproic Acid Treatment Reverses Anxiety and Neurotransmitter Changes in Tramadol-Treated Rats.Neurochemical research · 2025Article
- Valproate-Enhanced Protocols for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome: A Brief Review and Retrospective Study of Efficacy and the Ability to Reduce Benzodiazepine Use.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Tetrapleura tetraptera fruit extracts ameliorate pentylenetetrazol-induced seizures as well as ensuing cognitive deficit and oxidative stress.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Article
- Anxiolytic and sedative effects of sodium valproate with different experimental paradigms in male and female rats.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2024Article
- The Effect of Valproic Acid Administration on Learning, Social Interaction, and Depression Induced by Withdrawal Syndrome in Morphine-dependent Mice.Addiction & health · 2024Article
- Association between resting-state connectivity patterns in the defensive system network and treatment response in spider phobia-a replication approach.Translational psychiatry · 2024Article
- Comparison of two reaction-time-based and one foraging-based behavioral approach-avoidance tasks in relation to interindividual differences and their reliability.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Towards precision medicine for anxiety disorders: objective assessment, risk prediction, pharmacogenomics, and repurposed drugs.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Article
- Review
- Could the fibromyalgia syndrome be triggered or enhanced by COVID-19?Inflammopharmacology · 2023Review
- Pharmacological Strategies for Bipolar Disorders in Acute Phases and Chronic Management with a Special Focus on Lithium, Valproic Acid, and Atypical Antipsychotics.Current neuropharmacology · 2023Article
- Psychiatric adverse events in three phase III trials of eslicarbazepine acetate for focal seizures.Epilepsia open · 2022Article
- Valproate Adjuvant Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Panic Disorder Patients With Comorbid Bipolar Disorder: Case Series and Review of the Literature.Psychiatry investigation · 2022Article
- Cross-species anxiety tests in psychiatry: pitfalls and promises.Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
- [Negative valence systems in the system of research domain criteria : Empirical results and new developments].Der Nervenarzt · 2021Review
- Sodium valproate improves sensorimotor gating deficit induced by sleep deprivation at low dosesTurkish journal of medical sciences · 2021Article
- Model of theta frequency perturbations and contextual fear memory.Hippocampus · 2021Article
- Thigmotaxis in a virtual human open field test.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Hippocampal Representation of Threat Features and Behavior in a Human Approach-Avoidance Conflict Anxiety Task.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Valproate is an anticonvulsant drug with strong preclinical evidence for reducing anxiety behaviour in rodents but no clear clinical evidence. To motivate clinical trials, we here investigate the use of valproate in a translational human model of anxiety behaviour. In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, n = 118 healthy participants played a previously validated approach/avoidance conflict computer game to measure anxiety-like behaviour, while under 400 mg valproate, under 200 mg of the established anxiolytic/anticonvulsant pregabalin, or under placebo. Saccadic peak velocity and subjective ratings were assessed to control for drug-induced sedation. Compared to placebo, valproate and pregabaline were anxiolytic in the primary outcome, and several secondary outcomes. Bayesian model comparison decisively demonstrated no differences between the two drugs. Subjective and objective sedation was significantly more pronounced under pregabalin than valproate, but did not explain anxiolytic effects. We demonstrate acute anxiolytic properties of valproate in healthy humans. Both drugs have similar anxiolytic properties at the doses used. Valproate is less sedative than pregabalin. Our results suggest clinical trials on the use of valproate in anxiolytic treatment. More generally, we propose a strategy of screening drugs in human preclinical models that can directly be compared across species, such as the approach/avoidance conflict computer game used here. This approach could thus facilitate translational anxiety research.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.