NCT04850911

Reward Emotion Learning and Ketamine Study

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 70 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University of Oxford · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Ketamine's efficacy as an antidepressant is now well established yet the mechanisms underlying its antidepressant effect are yet to be fully described. Work in the animal literature and research in humans is suggestive of specific effects on anhedonia and memory reconsolidation. In this study the investigators will further explore the effects of ketamine on learning and memory as well as measuring the associated changes at neural level in a sample of healthy volunteers. Participants will be assigned to receive ketamine or placebo and complete a set of tasks which will allow the investigators to quantify the effect of ketamine on learning about reward and punishment and memory for learned reward associations 24 hours after ketamine infusion. This study will help the investigators to understand the basis of ketamine's antidepressant effects and aid the development of new treatments for depression.

Conditions

• Depression
• Major Depressive Disorder
• Treatment Resistant Depression

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	Ketamine Hydrochloride	Ketamine is a high trapping NMDA receptor antagonist which has rapid and reliable antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who have failed to respond to conventional monoaminergic agents.
OTHER	No intervention (placebo)	Placebo injection (0.9% sodium chloride)

Timeline

• Start date: 2021-08-25
• Primary completion: 2023-05-01
• Completion: 2023-05-01
• First posted: 2021-04-20
• Last updated: 2023-03-28

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom