Memory formation under stress in humans - the importance of the Mineralocorticoid Receptor

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: Recruiting

Sex: Not specified

Target Recruitment: 96

Inclusion Criteria

- Male, healthy volunteers
- Age 18 - 35 years
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
- Normal uncorrected hearing
- Body mass index between 18.5 and 30
- Willingness and ability to give written informed consent and willingness and ability to understand the nature and content, to participate and to comply with the study requirements

Exclusion Criteria

- Anuria,
- Acute or history of renal insufficiency / impairment of renal excretory function (or creatinine levels > 1.1 mg/dl at screening)
- Hyperkalemia (or potassium levels of > 5.0 mEq/L at screening)
- History of psychiatric treatment /current psychiatric treatment
- History of neurological treatment /current neurological treatment
- History of endocrine treatment /current endocrine treatment
- History of autonomic failure (e.g., vasovagal reflex syncope)
- History of psychotropic medication (e.g. antidepressants)
- History of hepatic impairments
- History of cardiovascular diseases
- Hypotension (< 90 / 60 mmHG)
- Bradycardia / Tachycardia (heart rate < 50 or > 100 at rest)
- Use of any medication on a regular basis
- Metal objects in or around the body
- Irregular sleep/wake rhythm (e.g., regular nightshifts or cross timeline travel)
- Claustrophobia
- Use of recreational drugs weekly or more often
- Smoking of more than 5 cigarettes per day
- Average use of more than 3 alcoholic beverages daily and self-reported inability or un-ease to cease drinking alcohol for 24 hours prior to testing.
- Caffeine consumption 3 hours before testing
- Professional sports or participation in competitions (as Spironolacton can lead to a positive doping test)

Study & Design

Study Type: Interventional

Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
<p>At the behavioural level, the main study parameter in the spatial memory task<br /><br>is accuracy (i.e. how well subjects remember the right location for a given<br /><br>object learned earlier) and the strategy used (i.e., automatic stimulus<br /><br>response association or elaborate spatial map strategy). For fear acquisition<br /><br>we assess how fast and accurate subjects learn the relationship between<br /><br>specific stimuli and threat using skin conductance responses. At the brain<br /><br>system level, we seek to investigate whether neural response patterns obtained<br /><br>by fMRI can reveal the neural mechanism by which MR activation is causing<br /><br>stress induced changes in spatial memory and fear learning. </p><br>

Secondary Outcome Measures