The Effects of Acute Administration of Bupropion on Neural Substrates Underlying Hedonic Capacity

Affective Neuroscience Laboratory

Status and phase

Completed

Phase 1

Conditions

Major Depressive Disorder

Treatments

Drug: Bupropion

Drug: Placebo

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00205946

2004-P-002234-1

2004-P002234-1

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effects of a single-dose of Wellbutrin XL (bupropion hydrochloride) on reward processing.

Full description

A cardinal feature of Major Depressive Disorder is anhedonia, which is a lack of pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. In order to understand reward processing in depressed individuals it is also necessary to study reward processing in people who are not depressed. Bupropion, the active drug in the anti-depressant Wellbutrin XL, has been shown to increase brain reward functioning in animals. The goal of the present study is to investigate the effects of Wellbutrin XL administered to psychiatrically healthy individuals as they perform a computer task known to assess reward processing.

Enrollment

32 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18 to 64 years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Absence of medical, neurological, and psychiatric illness (including alcohol and substance abuse)
Non-Smoker
Right-handed (Chapman and Chapman 1987)
Ability to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

Predisposition to seizure (e.g. family history of a seizure disorder, history of head trauma) or current use of medications that lower the seizure threshold
History or current diagnosis of anorexia or bulimia
Alcohol or substance abuse within the past year
Current usage of Wellbutrin or Zyban or other drugs that contain bupropion
Recent discontinuation of alcohol or sedatives (including benzodiazepines)
Use of (in the last 2 weeks) medications that may have antidepressant properties (ex. some herbal supplements)
Known allergies to bupropion
Currently lactating, pregnant or believe you are likely to be pregnant (enrolled subjects who are not using reliable contraception and have engaged in sexual intercourse since their last menstrual period will be given a self-administered pregnancy test.)
Left-handed/ambidextrous
Evidence of neurological illness
Serious suicide or homicide risk

Concomitant medications other than those listed in the exclusion criteria will be considered on an individual basis. Oral contraceptives will be allowed.