Effect of Oxytocin on Craving and Therapy Response

November 14, 2016 updated by: Aimee McRae-Clark, Medical University of South Carolina

Effect of Oxytocin on Craving and Therapy Response in Marijuana-dependent Individuals

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a medication called oxytocin on marijuana use and therapy response in people who frequently use marijuana.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Oxytocin has been shown to promote trust, social bonding, and calmness; however, its potential additive effects with a therapy intervention have not been explored in marijuana-dependent individuals. In the proposed study, the impact of intranasal oxytocin on therapy effectiveness and marijuana use outcomes following a brief therapy intervention will be investigated. It is hypothesized that oxytocin administration (vs. placebo) will improve treatment satisfaction and decrease marijuana use.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

16

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
    • South Carolina
      • Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29425
        • Medical University of South Carolina

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 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Subjects must be able to provide informed consent and function at an intellectual level sufficient to allow accurate completion of all assessment instruments.
  2. Subjects must meet DSM-IV criteria for current marijuana dependence (within the past three months). While individuals may also meet criteria for abuse of other substances, they must identify marijuana as their primary substance of abuse and must not meet criteria for dependence on any other substance (except nicotine) within the last 60 days.
  3. Subjects must consent to remain abstinent from alcohol for 24 hours and other drugs of abuse (except nicotine and marijuana) for three days immediately prior to study procedures. Subjects must abstain from marijuana for 24 hours prior to testing. By restricting marijuana use as proposed, subjects should not be under the acute effects of marijuana.
  4. Subjects must consent to random assignment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Women who are pregnant, nursing or of childbearing potential and not practicing an effective means of birth control.
  2. Subjects with evidence of or a history of significant hematological, endocrine, cardiovascular, pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal, or neurological disease including diabetes, as these conditions may affect physiological/subjective responses.
  3. Subjects with a history of or current psychotic disorder or bipolar affective disorder as these may interfere with subjective measurements.
  4. Subjects who pose a current suicidal or homicidal risk.
  5. Subjects taking any psychotropic medications, including SRI's or other antidepressants, opiates or opiate antagonists because these may affect test response. Individuals who take stimulants for treatment of ADHD will be allowed to participate.
  6. Subjects with any acute illness or fever. Individuals who otherwise meet study criteria will be rescheduled for evaluation for participation.
  7. Subjects who are unwilling or unable to maintain abstinence from alcohol and marijuana for 24 hours and other drugs of abuse (except nicotine) for three days prior to study procedures.
  8. Subjects meeting DSM-IV criteria for substance dependence (other than nicotine or marijuana) within the past 60 days.
  9. Subjects who, in the investigator's opinion, would be unable to comply with study procedures or assessments.

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Oxytocin
intranasal administration
Drug: Oxytocin
Subjects will be administered 40 IUs of oxytocin nasal spray or matching placebo prior to two individual sessions of MET.
Other Names:
  • Pitocin
Placebo Comparator: Saline
intranasal administration
Drug: Saline
Subjects will be administered 40 IUs of oxytocin nasal spray or matching placebo prior to two individual sessions of MET.
Other Names:
  • Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Therapy Session Satisfaction (as Measured by Subjective Report)
Time Frame: Within 5 minutes of completing a 45-60 minute Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) session at last session visit
After MET sessions, subjects completed the Session Rating Scale (SRS, Miller et al). This visual analog scale is comprised of 4 items for which participants rate their therapy experience in terms of relationship, goals and topics, approach/method, and overall, with minimum score 0 representing most dissatisfied and maximum score 10 representing most satisfied. Outcome measure reported below represents SRS score at last MET session.
Within 5 minutes of completing a 45-60 minute Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) session at last session visit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Marijuana Use (as Measured by Subjective Report of Number of Daily Smoking Sessions )
Time Frame: Self-report of average daily smoking sessions at MET Session 1 and last MET session 3
Subjects' marijuana use was measured via self-report of number of smoking sessions per day (Time Line Followback). The average number of daily sessions were calculated per group, with data presented below representing the change in amount of daily smoking sessions per group from first MET session to last MET session.
Self-report of average daily smoking sessions at MET Session 1 and last MET session 3

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Medical University of South Carolina

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

March 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2015

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 2, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

April 9, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

January 2, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 14, 2016

Last Verified

November 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 20991

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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