Effects of Propranolol (vs. Placebo) on Information Processing During Presentation of Emotionally Arousing Pictures

oral administration of one capsule Propanolol-CT 80 mg Filmtabletten (propranololhydrochloride, film-coated tablet encapsulated, 80 mg, single dose) together with 240 ml tap water and blood sampling at time points blank, 15, 30, 45 min, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 h of study days 1 and 3 and urine sampling for 24 h at study days 1 and 3 with subsequent measuring of propranolol and its clinically relevant metabolites

oral administration of one placebo capsule together with 240 ml tap water and blood sampling at time points blank, 15, 30, 45 min, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 h of study days 1 and 3 and urine sampling for 24 h at study days 1 and 3

Electrocortical activity will be assessed by continuous EEG recording using Net Station® System and compatible Geodesic Sensor Nets® (Electrical Geodesics Incorporated, Eugene, OR, USA), measured at days 1, 3 and 10 of the study. Event related potentials at encoding (late positive potential, LPP) and at retrieval (ERP memory old/new effect) will be computed off-line after acquisition of the data.

Measurement of the skin conductance by VITAPORT (Vitaport EDV Systeme GmbH, Erftstadt, Germany) on study days 1 and 3 at the time points before administration of the study medication, during the psychophysiological measurement and at 4 h. Furthermore, the skin conductance responses will be measured on day 10 during the psychophysiological measurement.

Performance of an ergometry by ergoselect II 100/200 (ergoline GmbH, Bitz, Germany) on study days 1 and 3 at 120 min. The burden will be the same wattage over 4 min, that corresponds to that of reaching 80% of the maximal heart frequency in the prestudy examination.

Performance of a spirometry (SpiroScout, Ganshorn Medizin Electronic GmbH, Niederlauer, Germany) with measuring of the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) on study days 1 and 3 before administration of the study medication and at 120 min.

Measurement of pulse waves by Mobil-O-Graph® PWA (I.E.M., Stollberg, Germany) on study days 1 and 3 at the time points -10 min, 20, 40, 60, 80, 120 min, 3, 5, 7, 11 h.

Saliva collection will be performed on study days 1 and 3 at time points -10 min, 80 min, 120 min with subsequent measuring of the concentration of α -amylase