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Clinical Trials/NCT05239780
NCT05239780RecruitingNot Applicable

Invasive Decoding and Stimulation of Altered Reward Computations in Depression

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai1 site in 1 country10 target enrollmentStarted: October 6, 2021Last updated:
Conditions
Interventions

Trial Snapshot

Phase
Not Applicable
Status
Recruiting
Enrollment
10
Locations
1
Primary Endpoint
Gambling Task

Study Overview

Brief Summary

Novel invasive neurostimulation stimulation strategies through neurosurgical interventions are emerging as a promising therapeutical strategy for major depressive disorder. These have been applied mostly to the anterior cingulate cortex, but other limbic brain regions have shown promise as anatomical targets for new neurostimulation strategies. The researchers seek to study neural activity in limbic brain areas implicated in decision behavior and mood regulation to identify novel targets for treatment through electrical stimulation. To do this, the study team will record local field potentials (LFPs) from the orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala of epilepsy participants undergoing invasive monitoring (intracranial encephalography, iEEG) during choice behavior. Leveraging the high co-morbidity of depression and intractable epilepsy (33-50%), neural responses will be compared to reward across depression status to identify abnormal responses in depression. Finally, the researchers will use these as biomarkers to guide development of neurostimulation strategies for the treatment of depression.

Detailed Description

Participants (n=24) will complete a decision-making task in which participants will make decisions under uncertainty and seek to maximize rewards. The researchers will assess behavioral (risk attitudes) and neural (LFP) responses using a combination of intracranial recordings and computational modeling. A subset of patients will complete the game a second time under electrical stimulation of pre-identified anatomical targets in orbitofrontal cortex, hippocampus or amygdala. In addition, patients' depression status will be assessed through questionnaires (BDI-II and HDSA). Finally, the researchers will examine whether electrical stimulation results in behavioral or mood modulation.

Study Design

Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Na
Intervention Model
Single Group
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
None

Eligibility Criteria

Ages
18 Years to 80 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • •- The study will follow clinical criteria for epilepsy patient recruitment for invasive monitoring. As a results, individuals of adults of all ages are expected to be included in this study.

Exclusion Criteria

  • •Adults over 80 years of age will be excluded as per concerns of cognitive decline.
  • •Children under 18 will be excluded from the study since the maturation of frontal lobes continues through adolescence and significant differences in frontal lobe functioning between children younger than 18 and adults are often observed.

Arms & Interventions

Participants with depression

Experimental

Participants with depression to undergo brain stimulation

Intervention: Brain stimulation (Procedure)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Gambling Task

Time Frame: Day 1

Risk attitudes will be evaluated behaviorally. Patients' behavior will in examined in experimental task (a gambling task) to determine overall proportion of risky choices (gambles) and indifference points (expected gamble value at which the patient is equally likely to choose a gamble or a safe bet). Score from 0%-100%, with higher percent indicating choosing the risky gamble more often.

Secondary Outcomes

  • Hamilton scales for depression and anxiety (HSDA)(Day 1)
  • Beck's Depression I-II (BDI-II) score(Day 1)

Investigators

Sponsor Class
Other
Responsible Party
Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator

Ignacio Saez

Assistant Professor

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Study Sites (1)

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