NCT02307617

Glutamate Probes in Adolescent Depression

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 57 (actual)
• Sponsor: Mayo Clinic · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 13 Years – 21 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to learn if measures of brain chemicals from a brain scan called Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (MRI/MRS) and brain activity (known as cortical excitability and inhibition) collected by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) are different in adolescents with depression who are in different stages of treatment. Researchers are conducting this study to learn more about how the brain works in adolescents with depression and without depression (healthy controls). This is important because it may identify a biological marker (a measure of how bad an illness is) for depression that could one day be used to identify depressed adolescents who would benefit from certain treatments (medications for example) or to monitor how well treatments are working.

Detailed description

This is a cross-sectional and longitudinal neurophysiology research study of 200 adolescent subjects in varying stages of major depressive disorder (MDD). The aims of this study are designed to gain an understanding of (1) the role of glutamate in the neurophysiology and pharmacologic treatment of child and adolescent MDD; (2) the role of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the neurophysiology and pharmacologic treatment of child and adolescent MDD; (3) the trajectory of glutamatergic and GABAergic functioning in human development with MDD. Glutamate concentrations in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and left dorsolateral prefrontal (L-DLPFC) cortex will be evaluated using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 3 Tesla (3T). Glutamatergic cortical excitability measures (with motor threshold and intracortical facilitation paradigms), and GABAergic cortical inhibitory measures (with cortical silent period and intracortical inhibition paradigms) will be studied using single and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) paradigms.

Conditions

• Major Depressive Disorder
• Major Depressive Disorder, Recurrent
• Major Depressive Disorder, Remitted

Timeline

• Start date: 2014-08-01
• Primary completion: 2017-04-17
• Completion: 2017-04-17
• First posted: 2014-12-04
• Last updated: 2021-04-23

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States