Enhancing Memory Consolidation in Older Adults

Palo Alto (17 mi)

Overseen bySara C Mednick, PhD

Age: 18+

Sex: Any

Travel: May be covered

Time Reimbursement: Varies

Trial Phase: Phase 4

Recruiting

Sponsor: University of California, Irvine

Prior Safety Data

Approved in 2 jurisdictions

Trial Summary

What is the purpose of this trial?The purpose of this research study is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying long-term memory formation in older adults. Both sleep and memory decrease with age. The investigators are interested in discovering whether these two biological changes are related. This study is specifically focused on understanding what are the critical components of sleep that facilitate memory formation and are they impaired in older adults. The investigators will be using the hypnotic zolpidem, a sleep drug that has been shown to increase a specific aspect of sleep that have been shown to correlate with memory improvement in young adults. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved zolpidem for use in certain sleep disorders, specifically in the treatment of sleeplessness (i.e., insomnia). In the current study, the investigators will examine whether zolpidem (5mg), compared with placebo, increases memory-related sleep events in older adults and test the impact of these drug-related sleep changes on post-sleep memory recall. This is a research study because the investigators are using pharmacological interventions to investigate our hypotheses about memory consolidation. The investigators are not studying the efficacy of zolpidem to treat conditions for which the FDA has already approved it.

Eligibility Criteria

Treatment Details

2Treatment groups

Active Control

Placebo Group

Group I: Nap/5mg ZolpidemActive Control1 Intervention

The research involves oral administration of zolpidem (ZOL, 5mg) or placebo during sleep with EEG recording. This study will employ a within-subject, crossover design, in which every subject experiences each of the following study conditions: Nap/5mg, Nap/placebo, plus an adaptation nap to be scheduled one week prior to the first experimental day. One condition will be tested per week, with condition order counterbalanced. Each subject will have 2 visits (plus an adaptation nap), each separated by 5-7 days (although this may be extended based on participant availability) to ensure that the drug is completely eliminated from the body. The order of drug conditions will be randomized and counterbalanced. During the experimental phase, each drug condition will include one day in the sleep lab, two encoding test sessions, and one retrieval test session. Multiple subjects will be in the experimental phase concurrently, and multiple subjects will be tested on each day.

Group II: Nap/PlaceboPlacebo Group1 Intervention