Interactions Between Physical Activity and Cannabis Use in Adults

June 11, 2013 updated by: Maciej Buchowski, Vanderbilt University
In this study the investigators will explore the relationship between physical activity and cannabis use. The investigators will compare regional brain activation detected by imaging technique(fRMI) before and after exercise in cannabis users and compare results with results from controls. The investigators hypothesize that the regional brain activation in response to visual cues (pictures related to cannabis use and food) will be different in cannabis users than in controls and that exercise will significantly alter brain responses to the cues.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

It is unknown how the response of cannabis users might compare to those of non-users in response to similar dose of physical activity. We will therefore compare brain activation during craving to cannabis, a natural reward (food) and a neutral scene (nature images). The food cues will allow us to determine if effects of exercise on brain activation and craving generalize to two different reward conditions and the nature scenes provide a neutral, no rewarding control. In addition to the analysis of predetermined regions of interest, whole-brain exploratory analyses will also be conducted to examine for additional brain regions showing associations between various conditions of interest and regional brain activation.

Specific Aims

1. To explore methodological factors involved in finding the relationship between PA and cannabis use.

  1. to examine the effects of cannabis and food cues on brain activation and craving in cannabis users and nonusers
  2. to examine the effects of vigorous exercise on brain activation and craving in response to cannabis and food cues.

Our working hypothesis is that the regional brain activation in response to drug cues will be different in cannabis users than in controls and that exercise will significantly alter brain responses to these cues in both groups. Our secondary hypothesis is that exercise will tend to normalize the abnormal brain activation observed in cannabis users.

Our expectation is that exercise will alter cue-responding in terms of brain activation or craving. It is possible that exercise may be a useful treatment in cannabis dependence. Future studies may examine this specific relationship.

There are no reports available exploring the relationship between physical activity and cannabis use.

Current data suggest that there are convergent findings regarding the chronic and acute effects of cannabis on brain activity

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

30

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

  • United States
    • Tennessee
      • Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37232
        • Vanderbilt University Medical Center

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

18 years to 35 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Cases and Controls must:

    • Be able to understand the study and provide written informed consent.
    • Be male or female 18 -35 years of age.
    • Be in generally good health
    • If female of childbearing potential, have a negative serum pregnancy test on study day

Cases must:

  • Meet criteria for cannabis dependence as primary diagnosis as determined by the Substance Abuse module of SCID (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV).
  • Not currently seeking treatment for cannabis dependence.
  • Have a positive urine drug test for cannabis on the study day
  • Avoid alcohol and other recreational drug use (except cannabis and/or nicotine) for 48 h before testing.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cases and Controls must not:

    • Be pregnant or lactating
    • Have implanted electrical medical device (e.g. pacemaker, vagal nerve stimulator)
    • Have non-secure metallic foreign bodies
    • Have met criteria for another axis 1 diagnosis in the past 6 months
    • Receive psychotropically active or vasoactive medications (within 6 weeks of screen day)
    • Have chronic medical illness
    • Have epilepsy
    • Have a history of head injury that required hospitalization
    • Have claustrophobia
    • Have orthopedic or other problems precluding them from performing exercise protocol
    • Have body mass index (BMI) less than 19 kg/m2
    • Weighing more than 275 pounds (MRI table limit)

Cases must not:

  • Have current dependence, as determined by the SCID, on any psychoactive substance other than nicotine and/or cannabinoid
  • Have any serious medical or psychiatric illnesses and/or clinically significant symptoms, which in the judgment of the PI or his/her designee would make them unsafe, or would make compliance with the study protocol difficult or put the study staff at undue risk

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: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cannabis users
Behavioral: Exercise
Exercise performed on a treadmill for 20-30 minutes
Experimental: Cannabis no-users
Behavioral: Exercise
Exercise performed on a treadmill for 20-30 minutes

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Craving for cannabis
Time Frame: 1 hour
1 hour

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Vanderbilt University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Maciej S Buchowski, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

January 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 23, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

February 6, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 12, 2013

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 11, 2013

Last Verified

June 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 081302

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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