NCT03575273

The Impact of Methadone Maintenance Therapy on Food Reward Processing in Opioid Dependence

The Impact of Methadone Maintenance Therapy on Food Intake and Food Reward Processing in Opioid Dependence: An Event-related Brain Potential Study

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 45 (actual)
• Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) has shown clear efficacy for relieving opioid withdrawal symptoms and reducing the morbidity and mortality of opioid dependence. A notable phenomenon associated with MMT is increased food intake, enhanced sweet preferences, and weight gain. The underlying neural mechanisms for opioid-related overconsumption are not well understood but are thought to arise from role in 1) increasing the palatability and hedonic aspects of food and 2) diminishing satiety signaling systems. In the proposed project, the investigators will examine methadone's potential role in opioid-related overconsumption of food. The investigators propose to examine eating behavior, sucrose preferences, and an event-related potential (ERP) component that is induced by appetitive motivation for highly rewarding foods in patients with a history of opioid dependence receiving methadone maintenance therapy (O+MMT) and not receiving opioid agonist therapy (O-MMT). A matched sample of obese and overweight adults without history of opioid use (HOC) will also be examined.

Detailed description

Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) has shown clear efficacy for relieving opioid withdrawal symptoms and reducing the morbidity and mortality of opioid dependence. A notable phenomenon associated with MMT is increased food intake, enhanced sweet preferences, and weight gain. The underlying neural mechanisms for opioid-related overconsumption are not well understood but are thought to arise from role in 1) increasing the palatability and hedonic aspects of food and 2) diminishing satiety signaling systems. In the proposed project, the investigators will examine methadone's potential role in opioid-related overconsumption of food. The investigators propose to examine eating behavior, sucrose preferences, and an event-related potential (ERP) component that is induced by appetitive motivation for highly rewarding foods in patients with a history of opioid dependence receiving methadone maintenance therapy (O+MMT) and not receiving opioid agonist therapy (O-MMT). A matched sample of obese and overweight adults without history of opioid use (HOC) will also be examined. Specifically, group differences in food intake and eating behaviors in the O+MMT group relative to individuals in the O-MMT and HOC group will be examined. Individuals will complete 24-hour dietary food recalls and inventories to characterize eating behavior and food addiction. Participants will complete psychophysical measures of chemosensory functioning of sucrose preference and pleasantness and identification ratings for odors varying in participants' hedonic characteristics. Individuals will also complete validated computer tasks to assess food preferences. Differences in cortical ERPs for high-reward food relative to low-reward food and non-food items will be examined. Event-related potentials will be recorded as participants view photos of rewarding and non-rewarding food items, as well as non-food items. ERP components that index sustained attentional engagement will be measured and compared.

Conditions

• Opioid Dependence
• Obesity

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Sniffin' Sticks Odor Identification and Hedonic Scale	This task measures odor identification accuracy and perceived pleasantness of odors.
BEHAVIORAL	Sucrose Taste Preference Assessment	This task measures participant ratings of sucrose preference.
BEHAVIORAL	Food Preferences Task	Participants rate images of various food stimuli. Variables derived include relative preferences and reaction time (in milliseconds).
BEHAVIORAL	Progressive Ratio (PR) Task	In the PR task, the subject is required to make an increasing number of operant responses for each successive reward
PROCEDURE	Clinical Electrophysiology	To examine motivated attention in response to food stimuli, brain electrophysiology via event related potentials (ERPs) will be assessed while participants view and rate images of food and non-food items.
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT	Standardized Meal and Hunger and Satiety Ratings	Participants will receive a standardized meal and complete hunger and satiety ratings.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-02-12
• Primary completion: 2019-12-01
• Completion: 2020-06-01
• First posted: 2018-07-02
• Last updated: 2020-12-16

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: United States