NCT03434054

The Effect of Losartan on Emotional Processing in Healthy Volunteers

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Oxford · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This experimental medicine study explores whether a single dose of losartan (50mg) versus placebo affects the processing of positive and negative stimuli, using fMRI.

Detailed description

Losartan has been shown to accelerate fear extinction in animals and to prevent the development of anxiety disorders in humans, emphasising its potential to possibly enhance exposure therapy in humans. This study explores the basic effects of losartan on emotional processing, to identify neural mechanisms by which the drug might have synergistic effects on psychological treatment in humans. In a double-blind between-groups design, 30 healthy volunteers will be randomised to a group receiving a single dose of losartan (50mg) versus placebo, and this study will measure the effects of probing renin-angiotensin function on emotional information processing, using functional magnet resonance imaging (fMRI). Such knowledge will ultimately be essential for the development of more effective pharmaco-psychological treatment approaches for anxiety disorders.

Conditions

• Healthy Volunteers

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Losartan	blood pressure medication
OTHER	Placebo	non-active sham intervention

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-06-01
• Primary completion: 2017-06-30
• Completion: 2017-06-30
• First posted: 2018-02-15
• Last updated: 2018-02-19