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Gender and Neural Substrates of Stress and Craving

NCT00756925 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 19

Last updated 2018-05-07

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Cocaine dependence is an insidious disease underscored by a powerful proclivity to relapse despite an individual's ability to recognize the deleterious consequences of continued drug use. To date, there are only a limited number of treatments, and no FDA approved medications for the treatment of cocaine dependence. Attempts to find reliable and successful treatments for cocaine dependence may be marred by gender differences in brain chemistry, structure, and function that are manifested as drug craving and relapse. For example, cues, drug exposure, and stress promote relapse, yet females appear be more susceptible to stress induced relapse, while males may be more susceptible to cue induced relapse. Therefore identifying the neural substrates involved in processing the valence of internal and external stimuli may provide further insight into cocaine dependence and provide more effective therapeutic strategies aimed at preventing relapse.

Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is a pharmacological activator of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis, and has been implicated in stress induced drug relapse. Corticotropin releasing hormone receptors are located at extrahypothalamic brain nuclei that have been implicated in determining the significance of both internal (somatic) and external (environmental) stimuli. The primary directive of this pilot project is to utilize functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify possible brain nuclei associated with with stress induced drug craving in cocaine dependent females.

Conditions

  • Cocaine Dependence

Interventions

DRUG

Acthrel

1 ug/kg, i.v., 1 minute

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Medical University of South Carolina

    lead OTHER

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2009-02-28
Primary Completion
2010-08-31
Completion
2010-08-31

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT00756925 on ClinicalTrials.gov