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Glutamate Activity in Depression (GLADE)

NCT06482606 · Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 40

Last updated 2024-07-01

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

A brain chemical (neurotransmitter) called glutamate is thought to play an important role in the causation and treatment of depression. It is possible to measure glutamate in the brain in people, using safe magnetic resonance imaging but results of studies of glutamate levels in people with depression and those at risk of depression have been inconclusive.

We have devised a method whereby viewing a flashing light for a few minutes provides a measure of stimulated glutamate release. We believe that this kind of functional measure is more relevant physiologically because studies in animals show that glutamate release evoked by sensory stimulation represents release of glutamate as a neurotransmitter rather than glutamate in intermediate metabolism. Therefore, the use of functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) may provide a more useful measure of neural glutamate activity in people with depression and those at risk of depression.

The aim of this study is to look at the effect of a flashing light on glutamate release in people who have recovered from depression and compare it to people who have not experienced depression. We hope from this to discover whether changes in glutamate activity might be a risk factor for the development of depression. This could be helpful both for diagnostic purposes and for the development of medications that can relieve depression by modifying glutamate release.

Conditions

Interventions

OTHER

Flickering Checkerboard Stimulation

This visual stimulation is a succession of alternating black and white squares on a small monitor in the scanner, the black and white checkerboard creates the effect of flickering lights.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

    collaborator OTHER_GOV

  • University of Oxford

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
70 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-06-30
Primary Completion
2025-06-30
Completion
2025-06-30

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases

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 NCT06482606 on ClinicalTrials.gov