Neuroimaging Techniques Development Related to Addiction
Recruiting in Palo Alto (17 mi)
+1 other location
Age: 18+
Sex: Any
Travel: May Be Covered
Time Reimbursement: Varies
Trial Phase: Academic
Recruiting
Sponsor: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
Must not be taking: Antidepressants, Stimulants
Disqualifiers: Pregnancy, Psychiatric disorders, Neurological disorders, Claustrophobia, others
No Placebo Group
Trial Summary
What is the purpose of this trial?Background:
Abusing alcohol, drugs, and other substances can cause serious health problems. These substances also can affect brain function. Researchers want to learn more about brain function by using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This uses a magnetic field and radio waves to take pictures of the brain.
Objective:
To develop new ways to use MRI to study the brain.
Eligibility:
Healthy people 18 years of age or older.
Design:
Participants will be screened with a medical history, physical exam, and blood and urine tests.
They will answer questions about their drug use and psychiatric history. They will be asked about family history of alcoholism or drug abuse.
Participants will answer questions to see if they can participate in MRI.
Participants will have MRI scans. The scanner is a metal cylinder in a strong magnetic field. Participants will lie on a table that slides in and out of the cylinder. A device called a coil may be placed over the head.
Each sub-study will include up to 3 different MRI visits. Participants can be in multiple sub-studies. But they can have only 1 MRI per week and 20 per year.
During MRI visits, participants may have urine collected. They may get another MRI questionnaire.
Participants may have a clinical MRI brain scan. This may show physical problems in the brain.
During some scans, participants may perform simple movement, memory, and thinking tasks.
Participants may be connected to a machine to monitor brain activity during the scan. Small metal electrodes will be placed on the scalp. A gel will be placed in the space between the electrodes and the scalp.
Will I have to stop taking my current medications?
The trial requires that you do not take any psychoactive drugs (medications that affect your mind, emotions, or behavior) like Celexa, Prozac, Wellbutrin, Zoloft, or stimulants like Adderall, Dexedrine, and Ritalin. If you are taking these medications, you would need to stop before participating.
What data supports the effectiveness of this treatment for addiction?
Research shows that neuroimaging techniques like MRI and fMRI can detect brain changes related to substance abuse, helping us understand how addiction affects the brain. These techniques have been used to study brain chemistry and function, offering insights into the mechanisms of addiction and potential therapeutic applications.
12345Is neuroimaging safe for humans?
Neuroimaging techniques like MRI and fMRI are generally considered safe for humans. They are non-invasive and do not involve radiation, making them widely used in both research and clinical settings to study brain function and structure.
12678How does this treatment for addiction differ from other treatments?
This treatment is unique because it uses advanced neuroimaging techniques like MRI and spectroscopy to study brain changes related to addiction, offering insights into the brain's structure and function that other treatments do not provide. These techniques can help identify subtle brain changes and drug reinforcement mechanisms, potentially leading to more targeted and effective interventions.
12349Eligibility Criteria
This trial is for healthy adults over 18 who can consent to the study, understand English, and agree not to use drugs on test days. It's not for pregnant women, those over 550 lbs, people with certain metal objects in their body or claustrophobia, anyone with serious psychiatric disorders or neurological conditions like MS or Parkinson's Disease.Inclusion Criteria
You are willing to abstain from drug use on scheduled testing days.
I am 18 years old or older.
I am 18 years old or older.
+3 more
Exclusion Criteria
Presence of ferromagnetic objects in the body that are contraindicated for MRI of the head (including but not limited to pacemakers or other implanted electrical devices, brain stimulators, some types of dental implants, aneurysm clips, metallic prostheses, permanent eyeliner, implanted delivery pump, or shrapnel fragments) or fear of enclosed spaces as determined by the self-report checklist
I have not binge drunk every month for the last 10 years.
I am currently taking prescribed mental health or stimulant medications, but not for sleep.
+7 more
Trial Timeline
Screening
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial
2-4 weeks
1 visit (in-person)
MRI Visits
Participants undergo MRI scans to assess brain function, with tasks performed during scans
Varies per sub-study
Up to 3 visits per sub-study
Follow-up
Participants are monitored for safety and effectiveness after MRI sessions
4 weeks
Participant Groups
The study aims to develop new MRI techniques to better understand brain function related to addiction. Participants will undergo various types of MRI scans while performing simple tasks and may be involved in multiple sub-studies but limited to one MRI per week and twenty per year.
9Treatment groups
Experimental Treatment
Group I: Spinner Task and MID Task (monetary incentive delay task)Experimental Treatment3 Interventions
The Spinner task requires the subject to participate in a game of chance while lying in the MRI scanner. Subjects will be asked to respond by pressing a button. The MID task is a reaction time task. The MID Task tests how quickly a subject can press a button to hit a target on the screen in front of them. If the subject presses the button as soon as the target appears, the subject will score points. Subjects should try to score as many points as you can.
Group II: Self-control TaskExperimental Treatment4 Interventions
During the MRI scan, subjects will do a task that requires close concentration. Subjects will be asked to respond quickly to images on the computer screen, during which they will hear distracting noises. The subject will be able to remove the distraction in order to complete the task. During some sub-study sessions, subjects will start with no money ($0) and may be able to earn up to $40 if they do not remove the distraction. At other sub-study sessions, subjects will start with $40 and may lose between 25 to $1 each time they remove the distraction. Subjects cannot lose more than $40 in these sessions. Compensation for this sub-study is up to $40 per session, depending on their performance.
Group III: Respiratory Challenge (RC) TaskExperimental Treatment4 Interventions
Participants will be visually instructed to take a brief deep breath (inhale) and release the breath (exhale). They will inhale and exhale one more time with visual cues at specific times (60 seconds, 120 seconds, 180 seconds, 240 seconds, etc. with successive 60 seconds intervals). A black cross will remain centered on a grey slide during the normal respiration periods. To signal the RC periods, the slide will change color to yellow READY slide, then to green BREATHE IN slide, then to blue BREATHE OUT slide. The sequence will repeat one more time to Breath In and Breath Out and then finally go back to the yellow Breathe Normally slide. The instruction words will be written on the slides. Each slide will be shown for 3 seconds. The task will take a total of 15 minutes (total of 900 seconds with 14 RC periods).
Group IV: Reasoning TaskExperimental Treatment3 Interventions
Subjects will identify changes in various shapes when they are displayed on the screen in front of them. Some changes of the shapes may be that they were rotated, enlarged, or multiplied. Subjects will choose the changes in the shapes by pressing a button.
Group V: NSPRD TaskExperimental Treatment4 Interventions
During the MRI scan, subjects will get small electric shocks through electrodes placed on one of their toes. The shocks feel like an elastic band snapping against the skin. Right after a shock, subjects will see a dot on the computer screen. Subejcts will press a button to rate the intensity of the shock.
Group VI: Motivational Reward TaskExperimental Treatment4 Interventions
Subjects will make a choice among some items presented on the screen in front of them. One of the items will be the winner item. The other items will be loser items. Each time a subject is presented with various items, they will choose the item they think is the winner item. Subjects will start with bonus points at the beginning of the task, so they can add more points to this amount as they continue to choose winner items.
Group VII: Delay Discounting TaskExperimental Treatment3 Interventions
Subjects will be asked to imagine whether they would receive money now or money later (in the future). The future money option may be several days from now or as far out as 6 weeks from now. For example, a s ubject may see a $100 option in 6 weeks or a $10 option now. Subjects will not receive actual money for participation in this task
Group VIII: Cue Reactivity TaskExperimental Treatment3 Interventions
In this task subjects will view pictures of various items on the screen in front of them. Subjects will rate the items by how much they would like to have them. Subjects will choose how much they want the item by pressing a button.
Group IX: Attentional Bias TaskExperimental Treatment3 Interventions
Subjects will briefly see two images side by side on a screen. Immediately after, a dot appears on the left or on the right. The subjects task is to press the left or right button, following the position of the image (left or right). Images can contain food-related items. We will also show short 1-minute food-related movies. Subjects will be asked to fast for three hours before this task begins.
Find a Clinic Near You
Research Locations NearbySelect from list below to view details:
National Institutes of Health Clinical CenterBethesda, MD
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville PikeBethesda, MD
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Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)Lead Sponsor
References
Magnetic Resonance Studies of Substance Abuse. [2019]Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy provide numerous ways to examine the effects of substance abuse on living tissues, ranging from high resolution anatomic imaging to dynamic imaging of tissue biochemical and functional changes. This review focuses on the role magnetic resonance studies have had in detecting brain anatomic changes associated with alcohol, stimulant, and narcotic abuse. Additionally, we focus on the increasing use of spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can reveal subtle brain changes associated with substance abuse and which offer great promise to help elucidate drug reinforcement mechanisms.
Functional magnetic resonance and spectroscopy in drug and substance abuse. [2019]Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) were utilized to evaluate functional and metabolic brain changes in drug abusers.
[Neuroimaging in substance abuse disorders]. [2019]The use of neuroimaging techniques in research on substance abuse disorders has advanced our understanding of the underlying pathophysiological and neuropsychological mechanisms. While initial structural imaging techniques were applied to investigate substance abuse-related cerebral atrophy, the functional techniques of SPECT, PET, and later fMRT and MRS provide a much broader range of possible research in this field. Besides their use in characterizing the pharmacology of abused substances and their relations to the pathophysiology of substance abuse disorders, they have also played an essential role in examining the neuropsychiatric underpinnings of the illness and their manifestation in changes of cerebral metabolism. Here, the influence of these techniques on the developing picture of substance abuse disorders is discussed by examining areas of particular scientific interest and reviewing exemplary findings.
Use of non-invasive neuroradiological methods in research of psychoactive drugs. [2007]Non-invasive neuroradiological methods like magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), blood oxgenation level dependent (BOLD) imaging recently entered into the areas of research in psychiatry, psychoactive drug development, as well as in clinical practice. fMRI can identify the regions of the brain associated with various functions, can monitor recovery, progression, and response to treatment and MRS can be used to study brain chemistry and metabolism. BOLD-imaging provides an indirect indication of neuronal activity. Future developments of different neuroimaging techniques are promising not only in surgical planning, functional assessment in brain tumor management, monitoring functional changes, but also in discovery of pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders and recognition of new pharmacological targets. Those techniques could be implemented in the process of drug discovery and identification of biomarkers which are clinically relevant for development of candidate drugs. Furthermore, those techniques establish the bridge between preclinical and clinical studies and allow the drug research in human in vivo.
Imaging the addicted human brain. [2019]Modern imaging techniques enable researchers to observe drug actions and consequences as they occur and persist in the brains of abusing and addicted individuals. This article presents the five most commonly used techniques, explains how each produces images, and describes how researchers interpret them. The authors give examples of key findings illustrating how each technique has extended and deepened our knowledge of the neurobiological bases of drug abuse and addiction, and they address potential clinical and therapeutic applications.
Magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy assessment of brain function in experimental animals and man. [2017]This paper introduces the basic principles and techniques of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and spectroscopy (MRS). Examples are given of single event human fMRI studies on control subjects, and a graded activation protocol applied to Parkinsonian patients. Possibilities are discussed for using fMRI techniques to study the neural substrate of various pharmacological agents, including drugs of abuse. The application of these pharmacological MRI (phMRI) studies to animal models and the associated technical issues are also addressed. The use of MRS in studying brain status and function is reviewed, with particular emphasis on 13C isotopic labelling studies.
Imaging cocaine-induced changes in the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic system of conscious rats. [2018]Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess the effects of cocaine on brain activation in fully conscious rats. Methods were developed to image cocaine-induced changes in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal without the peripheral cardiac and respiratory complications associated with psychostimulant administration. Using spin echo planar imaging (EPI), conscious rats were imaged in a 4.7 T spectrometer prior to and following the intracerebroventricular injection of cocaine (20 microg) in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (10 uL). Within 5 min of injection, there was a significant increase in BOLD signal intensity in the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum and prefrontal cortex, as compared to vehicle controls. Minimal negative BOLD signal changes were observed in response to cocaine and no significant perturbations in normal cardiovascular and respiratory function. These findings demonstrate the technical feasibility of studying psychostimulant-induced brain activity using functional MRI in conscious rats.
Real-time animal functional magnetic resonance imaging and its application to neuropharmacological studies. [2021]In pharmacological magnetic resonance imaging (phMRI) with anesthetized animals, there is usually only a single time window to observe the dynamic signal change to an acute drug administration since subsequent drug injections are likely to result in altered response properties (e.g., tolerance). Unlike the block-design experiments in which fMRI signal can be elicited with multiple repetitions of a task, these single-event experiments require stable baseline in order to reliably identify drug-induced signal changes. Such factors as subject motion, scanner instability and/or alterations in physiological conditions of the anesthetized animal could confound the baseline signal. The unique feature of such functional MRI (fMRI) studies necessitates a technique that is able to monitor MRI signal in a real-time fashion and to interactively control certain experimental procedures. In the present study, an approach for real-time MRI on a Bruker scanner is presented. The custom software runs on the console computer in parallel with the scanner imaging software, and no additional hardware is required. The utility of this technique is demonstrated in manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) with acute cocaine challenge, in which temporary disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a critical step for MEMRI experiments. With the aid of real-time MRI, we were able to assess the outcome of BBB disruption following bolus injection of hyperosmolar mannitol in a near real-time fashion prior to drug administration, improving experimental success rate. It is also shown that this technique can be applied to monitor baseline physiological conditions in conventional fMRI experiments using blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast, further demonstrating the versatility of this technique.
The neurobiology of addiction: the perspective from magnetic resonance imaging present and future. [2022]Addiction is associated with severe economic and social consequences and personal tragedies, the scientific exploration of which draws upon investigations at the molecular, cellular and systems levels with a wide variety of technologies. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been key to mapping effects observed at the microscopic and mesoscopic scales. The range of measurements from this apparatus has opened new avenues linking neurobiology to behaviour. This review considers the role of MRI in addiction research, and what future technological improvements might offer.