Neural Mechanisms Underlying the Antidepressant Effects of Sleep Deprivation

March 24, 2020 updated by: University of Pennsylvania
From 40 to 60% of patients with depression experience a rapid and significant improvement of mood with one night of sleep deprivation (SD). The neural mechanisms underlying this effect have not been elucidated. Recent advances in functional neuroimaging have provided new opportunities to investigate state changes in regional brain function, along with a better understanding of the neural networks affected by depression and SD. Here we propose to study a group of N=48 antidepressant-free male and female patients with current depression symptom and N=12 healthy controls with no history of mood disorders before and after SD to provide mechanistic insight into the neural substrates underlying the antidepressant effects of SD. We hypothesize that SD-induced concurrent functional activity and connectivity changes in multiple brain networks related to different depressive symptom dimensions including emotion regulation, attention, arousal, self-referential, and reward processing will underlie the rapid and transient antidepressant effects of SD. Using an ABA design, multimodal brain imaging along with more traditional electroencephalographic (EEG) and neurobehavioral testing data will be acquired at baseline after normal sleep, during one night of total SD, and after one night of recovery sleep using a 5-day in laboratory protocol during which subjects will be continuously monitored by trained staff.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

50

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
        • University of Pennsylvania

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years to 50 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Current depression as assessed on the HDRS-17 (for depressed group only)
  • Body mass index within 15% of normal
  • Stable, normally-timed sleep-wake cycle defined by: a. Habitual nocturnal sleep duration between 6h and 9h. b. Habitual morning awakening between 0600h and 0800h.
  • Able to comprehend English, as all questionnaires are in this language
  • Ability to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Shift work, transmeridian travel or irregular sleep/wake routine in past 60 days
  • A sleep disorder other than insomnia
  • History of bipolar disorder, delirium, dementia, amnestic disorder, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
  • No history of depression for the control group.
  • Alcohol or drug abuse in the past year
  • A current smoker.
  • Any acute or chronic, debilitating medical conditions, epilepsy, or thyroid disease.
  • Metallic implants, pacemakers or tattoos, or history of working in metal workshops.
  • Claustrophobic, or intolerant of the scanner environment.
  • For women, pregnancy will exclude participation.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sleep deprivation
36-hours of total sleep deprivation
36-hours total sleep deprivation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in HAMD-NOW scores
Time Frame: Each morning for 4 days
Total score on a modified Hamilton Depression Inventory that assesses mood symptoms in the moment.
Each morning for 4 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in neuroimaging
Time Frame: Each morning for 3 days
Resting-state brain functional connectivity on fMRI
Each morning for 3 days

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 28, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

February 28, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 24, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 25, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

May 30, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2020

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 24, 2020

Last Verified

March 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 811678

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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