Advanced Functional and Structural MRI Techniques for Neuropharmacological Imaging

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Drug Abuse; Nicotine Dependence
• Interventions: Device: MagPro X100 Magnetic Stimulator; Device: Magnetom Prisma Fit 3T Scanner; Device: Transcranial Rotating Magnetic Stimulator

• Registration Number: NCT01036581
• Lead Sponsor: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

Objective:

Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging techniques have proven essential for noninvasive mapping of brain physiology and pathology. The primary objective of this protocol is to develop advanced magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy (MRI and MRS) techniques for neuroimaging studies related to addiction. These neuroimaging techniques will be used in other studies to better understand the underlying mechanism of drug addiction and to potentially develop strategies for more effective treatment.

Study population:

Healthy controls and drug users will participate in the study. Technical developments of MRI/MRS will be performed on healthy controls, while the evaluation of the applicability of these techniques to addiction related neuroimaging studies will be performed using drug users and healthy controls.

Design:

Based on the fundamental principle of the biophysical transduction of physiological signals to magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopic signals, advanced techniques will be developed to measure the activity, metabolism, structure, and biochemistry of the brain. The development of these techniques typically includes the following steps: 1) proof-of-concept computer simulations, 2) implementation of the imaging concept with an MRI scanner and phantoms, 3) feasibility testing on control subjects, and 4) evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of these techniques in detecting functional changes modulated by task performance, CO2 (5%)administration, or non-invasive neuromodulation techniques (e.g.: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and transcranial rotating permanent magnet stimulation (TRPMS), 5) evaluation of these techniques in detecting functional and/or structural alterations of the brain related to a specific disease.

Outcome measures:

Advanced neuroimaging techniques developed from this protocol will demonstrate the ability to distinguish between drug using and control populations. Successful techniques will then be incorporated into hypothesis driven studies in the Neuroimaging Research Branch at NIDA-IRP. These techniques will also be useful, through publications and technology transfer, to the entire neuroimaging society.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2003-10-24
• Study First Submitted: 2009-12-18
• Study First Submitted QC: 2009-12-18
• Study First Posted: 2009-12-21
• Status Verified: 2025-03-12
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-05-17
• Last Update Posted: 2025-05-20
• Primary Completion: 2029-12-31
• Study Completion: 2029-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1000

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
TMS-fMRI Experiment 1	MagPro X100 Magnetic Stimulator	To evaluate the relationship between BOLD activation and MEP and establish a BOLD activation marker of cortical excitability. Participants will start with a set of two short task-based EPI scans and anatomical scan. RMT will then be determined. Participants will undergo a single-pulse TMS-fMRI scan with stimulation intensities relative to the RMT over the motor cortex and/or the DLPFC. In total, six (6) intensities will be tested, 80% 100%, 105%, 110%, 115%, and 120% relative to the RMT. The fMRI design will be event-related. Each intensity (event type) will be presented 50 times. The order of the intensities will be randomized, and the inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) will range from 12s to 20s (centered at 16s plus random jittering in between, about 0.06Hz). The highest intensity of stimulation will be 120% RMT. EMG recordings in the corresponding hand muscle will be simultaneously acquired during the scan. Total approximate time required for this experiment is about 6-8 hours.
TMS-fMRI Experiment 1	Transcranial Rotating Magnetic Stimulator	To evaluate the relationship between BOLD activation and MEP and establish a BOLD activation marker of cortical excitability. Participants will start with a set of two short task-based EPI scans and anatomical scan. RMT will then be determined. Participants will undergo a single-pulse TMS-fMRI scan with stimulation intensities relative to the RMT over the motor cortex and/or the DLPFC. In total, six (6) intensities will be tested, 80% 100%, 105%, 110%, 115%, and 120% relative to the RMT. The fMRI design will be event-related. Each intensity (event type) will be presented 50 times. The order of the intensities will be randomized, and the inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) will range from 12s to 20s (centered at 16s plus random jittering in between, about 0.06Hz). The highest intensity of stimulation will be 120% RMT. EMG recordings in the corresponding hand muscle will be simultaneously acquired during the scan. Total approximate time required for this experiment is about 6-8 hours.
TRPMS Experiment 1	Transcranial Rotating Magnetic Stimulator	To evaluate the prolonged effect of TPRMS on motor cortex excitability and help interpret and design subsequent experiments investigating the effect of TRPMS on BOLD signal. The experiment design consists of four groups, each group will include 10 participants (8 completers/group). For TRPMS stimulation sessions, our test conditions will be a 10 stimuli-session (approximately 2min), 50 stimuli-session (approximately 7min), 100 stimuli-session (approximately 14min), and 150 stimuli-session (20min) for each of the four groups, respectively. Therefore, the outcome will be measured with the spontaneous motor unit potentials (sMUPs) in the contralateral abductor pollicis brevis muscle (APB). After the stimulation session, we will measure sMUPs continuously for another 20min to observe the prolonged effect of the TRPMS stimulation and to compare these four conditions. The total approximate time required for this experiment is about 2-2.5 hours.
MR Methodology Development and Evaluation	Magnetom Prisma Fit 3T Scanner	Methodology development and evaluation consists of pulse sequence development, testing, and parameter optimization. For each method we develop or evaluate, we may recruit up to 40 participants to come in for up to 4 visits each. Each participant will be scanned for up to 2 sessions per visit, not to exceed 4 total scan hours per visit.
TRPMS Experiment 2	MagPro X100 Magnetic Stimulator	To evaluate cortical excitability changes caused by TRPMS measured with simultaneous TMS-fMRI. Participants will undergo a baseline TMS/fMRI session to get a measurement of baseline cortical excitability in the form of single-pulse TMS induced BOLD activation and determine motor hot-spot and RMT. We will then conduct an event-related single-pulse TMS/fMRI session with TMS stimulus at 120% RMT, 50 events with jittered inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) averaging 16s. Simultaneous EMG recording will be gathered from the corresponding hand muscle. Next we will use TRPMS to stimulate the left motor cortex over the hot-spot : 20-min application of TRPMS, 100ms duration, 0.2Hz (one stimulus every 5s), total 240 stimuli. Then we will evaluate the modulatory effect of the TRPMS stimulation via a second TMS/fMRI session with a similar procedure as the baseline session using the RMT determined at baseline. Total time for this experiment is about 5-6 hours.
TRPMS Experiment 2	Transcranial Rotating Magnetic Stimulator	To evaluate cortical excitability changes caused by TRPMS measured with simultaneous TMS-fMRI. Participants will undergo a baseline TMS/fMRI session to get a measurement of baseline cortical excitability in the form of single-pulse TMS induced BOLD activation and determine motor hot-spot and RMT. We will then conduct an event-related single-pulse TMS/fMRI session with TMS stimulus at 120% RMT, 50 events with jittered inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) averaging 16s. Simultaneous EMG recording will be gathered from the corresponding hand muscle. Next we will use TRPMS to stimulate the left motor cortex over the hot-spot : 20-min application of TRPMS, 100ms duration, 0.2Hz (one stimulus every 5s), total 240 stimuli. Then we will evaluate the modulatory effect of the TRPMS stimulation via a second TMS/fMRI session with a similar procedure as the baseline session using the RMT determined at baseline. Total time for this experiment is about 5-6 hours.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
To develop a simultaneous perfusion and BOLD imaging technique with improved functional contrasts and reduced susceptibility artifacts for determination of CMRO2 during brain activation	at each visit	perfusion/BOLD imaging data
To develop efficient methods to reduce image artifacts caused by susceptibility-induced field inhomogeneity and head motion, and therefore to improve reliability and sensitivity of functional imaging	at each visit	MRI scan data
To develop an imaging technique to identify fiber crossing in the brain based on high-angular resolution measurements of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and subsequently to develop improved fiber tracking techniques to delineate neuronal p...	at each visit	MRI scan data
To develop MRS techniques that are able to reliably measure metabolite and neurotransmitter concentrations in the brain at 3 Tesla, and to evaluate their feasibility and efficacy in drug addiction studies	at each visit	MRS data from MRI scans
To integrate genetic analysis with morphological and functional measurement of the amygdala, hippocampus, and other regions, which may help to account for some of the noise in these measurements	at each visit	MRI scan data and blood samples collected in 380 or 457 (NRB genetics protocol).
To assess effects of neuromodulation techniques, such as TMS and TRPMS, on brain activity and relevant MRI signals	at each visit	MRI scan data; spontaneous motor unit potentials (sMUPs) in the contralateral abductor pollicis brevis muscle (APB)

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

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