The Effects of Losartan on Reward Reinforcement Learning

University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Healthy

Treatments: Drug: Losartan; Drug: Placebo oral tablet

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04604938

UESTC-neuSCAN-75

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study aims to investigate whether a single dose of losartan (50 mg) can affect learning from positive and negative outcomes and its related neural mechanisms.

Full description

Emerging evidence suggests that the renin-angiotensin system can impact dopamine (DA) transmission and its modulatory role in reward processing. For instance, recent animal models have found that the angiotensin antagonist losartan reduces rewarding effects of methamphetamine and nicotine by modulating DA release in the striatum.The present study thus will investigate losartan effects on reward reinforcement learning and the underlying neural mechanisms. In a double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled design, 60 healthy male subjects will be randomly assigned to receive single-dose losartan (50 mg) or placebo, 90 minutes before performing a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during fMRI.

Enrollment: 60 estimated patients

Sex: Male

Ages: 18 to 30 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders
• Right-handedness
• Normal or corrected-normal version

Exclusion criteria

• History of head injury
• Medical or psychiatric illness
• Hypertension
• General cardio-vascular alteration or diseases
• Allergy against medications
• Visual or motor impairments
• Claustrophobia
• Drug addiction
• Nicotine dependence
• FMRI contradictions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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60 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Losartan group

Experimental group

Description:

Drug: Losartan

Treatment:

Drug: Losartan

Placebo group

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

Drug: Placebo Oral Tablet

Treatment:

Drug: Placebo oral tablet