NCT03026036

Neuroimaging Studies of Reward Processing in Depression

• Status: Completed
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 123 (actual)
• Sponsor: Mclean Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study investigates stress-related signaling of glutamate and dopamine within the reward-processing circuit in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), and whether they can be used to predict depressive symptoms in the future. This will be achieved through various neuroimaging tools (MRS, fMRI, PET), behavioral tasks, and a naturalistic follow-up design.

Detailed description

The overarching goals of this research are to investigate: (1) stress-induced glutamatergic abnormalities and their relation to disruption within the corticostriatal valuation circuit in MDD; (2) stress-induced DA signaling disruptions in MDD; and (3) the predictive validity of these two pathophysiological mechanisms. This will be achieved through an innovative integration of (1) proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)-based assessments of glutamatergic metabolites in the mPFC; (2) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) probes of the corticostriatal valuation circuit with well-established stress manipulations (MAST) and assessments (cortisol and inflammatory markers); (3) positron emission tomography (PET)-based measurement of striatal DA release with well-established stress manipulations and assessments (cortisol and inflammatory markers); and (4) a naturalistic follow-up design.

Conditions

• Major Depressive Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
RADIATION	PET Scan with Raclopride	A subsample (21 per group) will complete the PET imaging.

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-04-01
• Primary completion: 2021-03-01
• Completion: 2021-03-01
• First posted: 2017-01-20
• Last updated: 2023-02-03

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States