NCT00544544

Riluzole in the Treatment of Bipolar Depression

Riluzole in the Treatment of Bipolar Depression: A Study of the Association Between Clinical Response and Change in Brain Glutamate Levels as Measured by Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 14 (actual)
• Sponsor: Mclean Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Bipolar disorder is a common and often chronic and debilitating mental illness. The depressive phase of bipolar disorder contributes the largest portion of the disorder, and treatment resistant bipolar depression represents a significant public health problem. Recent research has suggested that bipolar depression is associated with elevated brain glutamate activity. We hypothesize that riluzole, a drug approved for ALS which inhibits glutamate activity, will lead to clinical improvement in patients with bipolar depression.

Detailed description

We hypothesize that riluzole will lead to significant reduction in depressive symptoms as measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). Additionally, improvement in depressive symptoms will be associated with reduced glutamate levels in the anterior cingulate cortex, but not parieto-occipital cortex, both at day two and day 42.

Conditions

• Bipolar Depression

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Riluzole	50 mg twice daily for 2 weeks 50 mg in the morning and 100 mg in the evening for 1 week 100 mg twice daily for 3 weeks

Timeline

• Start date: 2007-06-01
• Primary completion: 2009-06-01
• Completion: 2009-07-01
• First posted: 2007-10-16
• Last updated: 2018-08-07
• Results posted: 2010-08-18

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States