NCT05972798

Exploration of the Potential Mechanisms of n-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation in Depression and Cognitive Function in Patients With Late-life Depression

Exploration of the Potential Mechanisms of n-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation in Depression and Cognitive Function in Patients With Late-life Depression by Using Multi-modal Neuroimaging Methods

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Chang Gung Memorial Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 60 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Depression in the elderly causes considerable distress, disability, and loss of life. The accelerating aging boom is accentuating the importance of addressing late life depression (LLD). Extensive efforts in searching for effective and safety treatment yielded unsatisfactory results. Among the multiple agents in LLD treatment, long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3 PUFA) stands out as an interesting compound as it addressed two main features in LLD, depressive mood and cognitive function. However, how it affects the brain remains unknown. Therefore, in an on-going double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study using 48 weeks omega-3 PUFA supplement in LLD treatment, we plan to perform two MRI scans (pre-treatment and post-treatment), in an effort to understand the unique neurobiology of omega-3 PUFA in the treatment of LLD. Along the trial, neuropsychological function and associated inflammatory markers were also collected.

Detailed description

Depression in the elderly causes considerable distress, disability, and loss of life. The accelerating aging boom is accentuating the importance of addressing late life depression (LLD).Extensive efforts in searching for effective and safety treatment yielded unsatisfactory results.Among the multiple agents in LLD treatment, long-chain polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids(omega-3 PUFA) stands out as an interesting compound as it addressed two main features in LLD,depressive mood and cognitive function. However, how it affects the brain remains unknown.Therefore, in an on-going double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study using 48 weeks omega-3 PUFA supplement in LLD treatment, we plan to perform two MRI scans (pre-treatment and post-treatment), in an effort to understand the unique neurobiology of omega-3 PUFA in the treatment of LLD. Along the trial, neuropsychological function and associated inflammatory markers were also collected. From past study, what separates LLD from mid-life depression lying in two key features that distinguish the brain in the elderly versus young individuals are cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and neurodegeneration. We conceptualize the cognitive and emotional dysfunction in LLD is obscured by the overlay of age-related brain abnormalities (e.g., white matter disease, atrophy, neurodegeneration, etc.), which could be ameliorated by the supplement omega-3 PUFA. We also expected functionally distinct brain regions (ex: amygdala in emotional processing, hippocampus in memory encoding) will demonstrate between group differences in the activation changes across trial. Moreover, all these neuroimaging changes may be mediated by concomitant changes in inflammatory markers or neuropsychological profiles, validating the mechanism of action in omega-3 PUFA as anti-inflammation. With the help with multi-modal neuroimaging approach, we can assimilate these findings into an 'integrative neurobiological systems". We expect our findings would pin-point omega-3 PUFA's antidepressant effect in the brain level and solve its underlying biological mechanism.

Conditions

• Late Life Depression

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Omega-3 fatty acids	2.2 g/d omega-3 PUFAs (1.2g EPA and 1g DHA per day) in patients with LLD
OTHER	Soybean oil	Soybean oil in patients with LLD

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-09-25
• Primary completion: 2018-09-25
• Completion: 2020-12-25
• First posted: 2023-08-02
• Last updated: 2023-08-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Taiwan