NCT00505349

Blood Neurotrophic Factors in Adults

• Status: Withdrawn
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 0 (actual)
• Sponsor: Posit Science Corporation · Industry
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The overall goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of cognitive training on blood levels of neurotrophic factors in adults.

Detailed description

Current research suggests that levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and certain excitatory neurotransmitters - specifically glutamate, D-serine, and glycine are low in participants with depression and other mental illnesses (Wolkowitz and Reus 2002, Tan et al., 2005; Shoval \& Weizman, 2005; Hashimoto et al., 2005). Research also suggests that levels of both BDNF and excitatory transmitters can be enhanced by cognitive stimulation (Hynd et al., 2005; Wu et al., 2005; Yang et al., 2005; Mattson et al., 2004). BDNF is found in brain tissue and is also measurable in blood; it stimulates neuronal cell growth in certain brain regions (Duman, 2004). In Phase 1, we wish to measure the levels of specific neurotrophic factors in healthy, young participants. Phase 2 is intended to correlate similar levels with change in neurocognitive performance in healthy, older participants. Overall, this study is designed to obtain a raw measure of the impact that cognitive training has on the mature adult brain.

Conditions

• Healthy

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Computer-based cognitive training	The experimental cognitive training program consists of interactive training exercises in which the participant responds to visual patterns and stimuli. The program is designed upon the principles of brain-plasticity, and, for the purposes of this study, is intended to be used for an 8-10 week period (40 total hours of training.)

Timeline

• Start date: 2007-06-01
• Primary completion: 2009-06-01
• Completion: 2009-06-01
• First posted: 2007-07-23
• Last updated: 2016-02-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States