I am aware that SSRIs can have a role to play in hippocampal function, and am keen to quantify the likely impact that 50mg being taken for 2 weeks may have on a research participant undertaking an allocentric spatial processing task. Should I exclude this participant, or is the dosage low enough and the time period short enough not to influence the test result any more than other potential variables (such as comorbid depression, alcohol consumption, sleep quality, etc)? Advice sought!
Great question, and one that is unfortunately easier to answer in rodents than humans. Rodent data show sertraline's influence on neuronal stem cell development. Some patients with PTSD will show decreased irritability after approx two weeks on SSRI or SNRI antidepressants. However, extrapolating that clinical change to specific brain regional changes hasn't been done, as far as I know. For your study, I suggest addressing the issue with this one subject in the manuscript discussion. I also won't be surprised if there is no statistically significant difference between this subject and other subjects.
Thank you so much for your advice. I am finding myself asking similar questions re: antipsychotics and mood stabilisers. The applicability of the rat model is somewhat awkward to quantify- we have very human veterans taking part in the research, all presenting with trauma - and whose neurological function is only being tested in terms of hippocampal-dependant navigation. Perhaps the best thing to do is to check for statistical indicators of difference and to, as you advise, articulate these considerations in the manuscript. The impact of SSRIs and antipsychotics on BDNF levels in those on these medications may need to be considered when we analyse genotype but again, we are unlikely to find statistical differences with the sample sizes we will have. Thanks again- really appreciate your input
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