Development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques for Studying Mood and Anxiety Disorders
- Conditions
- Mood DisordersAnxiety Disorders
- Interventions
- Device: 7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner
- Registration Number
- NCT00397111
- Lead Sponsor
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
- Brief Summary
This study is intended to help develop new MRI imaging techniques for studying mood and anxiety disorders. Researchers believe that depression and anxiety disorders may cause structural and functional changes in the brain. This study will optimize the way MRI scans are collected to look at brain structure and examine how the brain behaves while subjects perform particular tasks. Healthy volunteers and individuals with major depressive disorder may be eligible for this study.
Participants undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological testing. : Individuals will be asked to participate in an MRI study on one of several scanners. The scanner used will measure blood flow in the brain, concentrations of certain chemicals in the brain, or magnetic properties of the brain. The scan may involve They watching a screen presenting images or doing a task in which they respond to pictures or sounds. Participants may be asked to return for additional scans.
The study also involves neuropsychological tests, which assess cognitive performance. Often, people with mood disorders have subtle changes in performance on these tests that allow researchers to pinpoint where brain abnormalities occur. Before the tests can be used in patients, they must be validated by using healthy subjects. These tests are presented either orally, in written form, or on a computer.
- Detailed Description
Objective
A major component of understanding the pathogenesis of mood and anxiety disorders is expected to involve elucidation of abnormalities in brain structure and function associated with these conditions. Historically post-mortem histopathological and neurochemical assessments constituted the primary methods for investigating abnormalities of brain structure and function in psychiatric disorders. However, the significance of the results from such studies has been limited by the relatively poor availability of specimens from subjects with mood and anxiety disorders who had been unmedicated and clinically well-characterized antemortem. By allowing for in vivo human studies, medical imaging technologies provide efficient, accurate, and non-invasive alternatives for characterizing brain structure and function. The recent rapid development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, in particular, has provided powerful tools for assessing a wide range of cerebral physiological and morphological characteristics. To optimally exploit the potential of these rapidly evolving MRI scanning and hardware capabilities in investigations of mood and anxiety disorders, new techniques and applications must be developed and tested. The technical development protocol proposed herein will assess new imaging techniques and hardware, and will develop novel cognitive tasks for application in the study of mood and anxiety disorders. The primary objective of this protocol is the development of MRI experiments for characterizing the physiological correlates of mood and anxiety disorders. In addition, the pilot projects encompassed within this protocol involve the optimization of existing MRI pulse sequences, the application of new pulse sequences for structural and functional MR imaging, and the development of new functional MRI (fMRI) tasks that can elucidate neural function within the cognitive-behavioral domains affected in mood and anxiety disorders. This protocol will also allow testing of existing imaging hardware that can increase the spatial resolution, contrast, and sensitivity of MR images. Such hardware includes the use of multi-channel radio frequency (RF) coils and patient monitoring equipment. Development of these techniques and applications will directly enhance the sensitivity and specificity of MRI studies of mood and anxiety disorders.
Study Population
This study will involve 250 healthy volunteers and 90 patients with major depressive disorder.
Design
This technical development protocol will assess new imaging techniques and hardware, and will develop novel cognitive tasks for application in the study of mood and anxiety disorders. Subjects will have the option to participate in one or several procedures conducted under this protocol, including fMRI, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), Magnetoencephalography (MEG), behavioral tasks, and rating scales.
Outcome Measures
Primary outcome measures on neuropsychological tests will include parameters such as accuracy and reaction time. Secondary outcome measures will include differences in reaction time or accuracy between different testing conditions. Outcome measures from MRI scanning sessions will include signal-to-noise ratio, contrast-to-noise ratio, structural volumes, metabolite concentrations (in the case of MRS), relaxation times (in the case of relaxometry), and BOLD time series (in the case of fMRI).
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 340
Not provided
Not provided
Study & Design
- Study Type
- OBSERVATIONAL
- Study Design
- Not specified
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Healthy Volunteer 7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner Healthy Volunteer/control group Major Depressive Disorder 7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanner Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Structural volumes Varies based on experiment Magnetic Resonance Imaging data
Signal-to-noise ratio Varies based on experiment Magnetic Resonance Imaging data
Reaction time Varies based on experiment Neuropsychological testing data
BOLD time series Varies based on experiment Magnetic Resonance Imaging data
Contrast-to-noise ratio Varies based on experiment Magnetic Resonance Imaging data
Relaxation times Varies based on experiment Reflexometry data
Accuracy Varies based on experiment Neuropsychological testing data
Metabolite concentrations Varies based on experiment Magnetoencephalography data
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Reaction time between testing conditions Varies based on experiment Neuropsychological testing data
Accuracy between testing conditions Varies based on experiment Neuropsychological testing data
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
🇺🇸Bethesda, Maryland, United States