Mood, Serotonin and Social Interaction

University of Groningen

Status and phase

Completed

Early Phase 1

Conditions

Social Behavior

Mood

Treatments

Dietary Supplement: tryptophan depletion

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT02051530

NL451-09-013

Details and patient eligibility

About

Rationale: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a psychiatric disorder whose onset, severity, and duration are influenced by interpersonal factors. The serotonin system is known to influence MDD risk. Recent research has suggested that serotonin may also play a role in regulating social behaviour. Therefore, it would be interesting to study the role of serotonin in responses to social stimuli in individuals at risk for MDD.

Objective: This project aims to study how changes in serotonin alter interpersonal functioning in adults with or without a first degree family member diagnosed with MDD. The primary goal is to investigate the effect of experimentally lowered brain serotonin levels on empathic accuracy. Secondary goals are to determine how this manipulation influences verbal and non-verbal communication, cardiovascular function in a social context, and mood. An exploratory goal is to investigate how these outcomes are related to genes thought to be involved in MDD.

Full description

see summary

Enrollment

40 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 65 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Age 18 to 65 yrs
At least one first-degree family member with MDD, Family History (FH) positive, or no first and -second degree family members with MDD, FH negative
Willingness to cooperate, to sign written informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Any current or past Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) IV Axis I mood disorder, anxiety disorder, psychotic disorder, eating disorder, or somatoform disorder as determined by Structured Clinical Interview for DSM interview
Any current substance use disorder
Any past substance dependence
Ongoing medical treatment for a chronic disease, particularly cancer, gastrointestinal disease, phenylketonuria, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or disease of the liver or kidneys
Not speaking Dutch fluently
Current or past use of neuroleptics, sedative drugs, antidepressants etc.
On test days, a positive urine test for drugs of abuse
For women, initiation of hormonal contraceptive treatments 3 months prior to screening, or a positive urine test for pregnancy on test days