Advanced Functional and Structural MRI Techniques for Neuropharmacological Imaging

Description

Background: - Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have allowed researchers to map and study how the brain works when at rest and when engaged in specific tasks. MRI scans have provided more information about how drugs affect the brain, and about how drug addiction changes the brain and influences behavior, mood, and thinking processes. To better understand the underlying mechanism of drug addiction and to develop strategies for more effective treatment, researchers are interested in developing new MRI techniques to study the effects of addiction on the brain. Objectives: - To develop new functional and structural MRI techniques, and to evaluate their potential use in brain imaging studies related to addiction. Eligibility: * Individuals between 18 and 80 years of age. * Participants may be smokers or nonsmokers, and may use drugs or not use drugs. Design: * During the initial screening, participants will complete questionnaires about family and personal history, drug use, and other information as required by the researchers. Participants who will be asked to complete tasks during the MRI scan will be shown how to perform these tasks before the scanning session. * Before each study session, participants may be asked to complete some or all of the following: questions about their drug use during the last week, a breathalyzer test, a urine drug-use assessment, a urine pregnancy test, or a measure of carbon monoxide. Participants will also provide blood samples before the start of the scan. * For each scanning session, participants will have an MRI scan that will last approximately 2 hours. * MRI scans may include specific tasks to be performed during the scan, or an experiment that studies the brain's response to carbon dioxide....

Conditions

Drug Abuse, Nicotine Dependence

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Study Overview

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Study Details

Study overview

Background: - Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have allowed researchers to map and study how the brain works when at rest and when engaged in specific tasks. MRI scans have provided more information about how drugs affect the brain, and about how drug addiction changes the brain and influences behavior, mood, and thinking processes. To better understand the underlying mechanism of drug addiction and to develop strategies for more effective treatment, researchers are interested in developing new MRI techniques to study the effects of addiction on the brain. Objectives: - To develop new functional and structural MRI techniques, and to evaluate their potential use in brain imaging studies related to addiction. Eligibility: * Individuals between 18 and 80 years of age. * Participants may be smokers or nonsmokers, and may use drugs or not use drugs. Design: * During the initial screening, participants will complete questionnaires about family and personal history, drug use, and other information as required by the researchers. Participants who will be asked to complete tasks during the MRI scan will be shown how to perform these tasks before the scanning session. * Before each study session, participants may be asked to complete some or all of the following: questions about their drug use during the last week, a breathalyzer test, a urine drug-use assessment, a urine pregnancy test, or a measure of carbon monoxide. Participants will also provide blood samples before the start of the scan. * For each scanning session, participants will have an MRI scan that will last approximately 2 hours. * MRI scans may include specific tasks to be performed during the scan, or an experiment that studies the brain's response to carbon dioxide....

Advanced Functional and Structural MRI Techniques for Neuropharmacological Imaging

Advanced Functional and Structural MRI Techniques for Neuropharmacological Imaging

Condition
Drug Abuse
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Baltimore

National Institute on Drug Abuse, Biomedical Research Center (BRC), Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21224

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * Male and non-pregnant female adults between the ages of 18-80.
  • * All subjects must be able to provide informed consent.
  • * Are pregnant. Urine pregnancy tests will be performed on all female volunteers of child-bearing potential before each experimental session.
  • * Are unable to undergo MRI scanning due to implanted metallic devices (cardiac pacemaker or neurostimulator, some artificial joints, metal pins, surgical clips or other implanted metal parts including Copper 7 IUD) or claustrophobia.
  • * Have major medical illnesses severe enough to impact data being gathered. Potential exclusions may include a history of chronic uncontrolled hypertension, diabetes, HIV, or other clinically significant medical conditions that may alter the signal being measured.
  • * Have current major psychiatric disorders to include, but not limited to, mood, anxiety, psychotic disorders.
  • * Have neurological illnesses severe enough to impact data being gathered. Potential exclusions may include seizure disorders, migraine, multiple sclerosis, movement disorders, or history of significant head trauma, CVA, or CNS tumor. Participants will also be asked about any lingering neurological and psychiatric symptoms that may be a result of COVID-19 infection. The MAI will assess the severity in relation to the potential impact on data.
  • * Are non-English speaking. Justification: There is no direct benefit to participants in this study, and some of the study procedures involve more than minimal risk. To include non-English speakers, we would have to translate the consent and other study documents and hire and train bilingual staff, which would require resources that we do not have and could not justify given the small sample size for each experiment. Additionally, the data integrity of some of the cognitive tasks and standardized questionnaires used in this study would be compromised as they have only been validated in English. Most importantly, ongoing communication regarding safety procedures is necessary when participants are undergoing MRI and TMS/TRPMS procedures. The inability to effectively communicate MRI and TMS/TRPMS safety procedures could compromise the safety of non-English speaking participants.
  • * Are cognitively impaired, as assessed by the consent quiz and medical history. A validated IQ test such as the WASI or Shipley-2 may also be considered. Justification: Cognitive impairment and learning disabilities are associated with alterations in brain regions used to accomplish tasks, and, therefore, may introduce significant variably into the data. Cognitive impairment may affect one s ability to give informed consent.
  • * age (some experiments may want to target a particular age range. For example, cognitive tasks generally exclude participants over 60, an age when cognitive issues tend to become more commonplace)
  • * left-handedness (if desired for a particular task)
  • * color-blindness (if using a task requiring color discrimination)
  • * drug use diagnosis
  • * use of psychoactive or vascularly active medications (if a functional fMRI technique that is sensitive to hemodynamic changes is being used)

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to 80 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Collaborators and Investigators

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),

Yihong Yang, Ph.D., PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Study Record Dates

2029-12-31