Exercise and Therapeutic Learning Among Women With PTSD

Summary

This study aims to test whether aerobic exercise performed after fear extinction learning improves the consolidation and subsequent recall of the learned safety memories (i.e., fear extinction memories) among adult women with PTSD related to interpersonal violence exposure, and whether this effect is mediated by the ability of exercise to increase acute levels of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and endocannabinoids (eCB). Participants can expect to be on study for up to 90 days, participating in 4 study stages: Day 1 of Assessments, Day 2 of Fear Learning, Day 3 of Fear Extinction (and activity), and Day 4 of Recall of Fear Extinction.

Conditions

• PTSD

Interventions

OTHER

Day 1 Assessments

Structured clinical interview to assess trauma history and mental health diagnoses, as well as a screening EKG to assess safety to engage in exercise testing (lasts 3-4 hours)

OTHER

Day 2 Fear Learning

Participants undergo a standard fear conditioning procedure, in which they learn that one of two geometric shapes (circles or triangles) predict the occurrence of a noxious stimulus (mild electrotactile stimulation). Day 2 lasts about 1 hour.

OTHER

Day 3 Fear Extinction

Participants undergo a fear extinction procedure, in which participants learn that the geometric shapes no longer predict a noxious stimulus (i.e., safety learning). Blood samples will be drawn immediately before exercise, and immediately following.

BEHAVIORAL

Moderate Intensity Exercise

The moderate-intensity aerobic exercise session will consist of a 5 minute warm-up of light intensity activity (40-60% maximum heart rate; MHR) on a treadmill followed by walking or running at a moderate intensity (i.e., between 70-75% MHR) for 30 minutes on Day 3

BEHAVIORAL

Low Intensity Exercise

Control participants will maintain light-intensity activity (i.e., walking at \~50% of MHR) for the full duration of 30 minutes.

OTHER

Day 4 Recall of Fear Extinction

During Day 4, recall of the fear extinction memory is tested. Visits on Day 4 occur \~24 hours following Day 3, and lasts about 30 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Wisconsin, Madison

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Josh Cisler, PhD · University of Wisconsin, Madison

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

21 Years

Max Age

50 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2019-04-08

Primary Completion

2020-01-21

Completion

2020-01-21

Countries

• United States

Study Locations