Effects of Buprenorphine on Mood in Adults With a Range of Depressive Symptomatology (BED)

May 6, 2019 updated by: University of Chicago
This study seeks to to study the effects of buprenorphine, a partial mu-opioid agonist, on depressed mood in a healthy young adults with a range of depressive symptomatology.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

It has been shown that opioid analgesics, particularly the mu-opioid partial agonist buprenorphine, have anti-depressant properties in laboratory animal models. In humans, rates of prescription opioid abuse are significantly higher in patients with depression. This suggests that individuals with negative mood states (e.g., depressive states) may respond more positively to opioid drugs. A handful of small studies in in humans have suggested that buprenorphine reduces symptoms of depression in patients who did not respond to standard anti-depressants, and laboratory studies have shown buprenorphine may reduce responses to some types of negative stimuli and enhance responses to positive stimuli. However, a controlled laboratory study assessing potential anti-depressant effects of an opioid medication has never been conducted. In this project, the investigators propose to examine depressive symptomatology as a predictor of subjective mood responses to buprenorphine, using two measures; i) self-reported depressive symptomatology as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), and ii) physiological indices of depressive symptomatology as measured by heart rate variability. Reduced heart rate variability has been shown to be associated with depression, and such a physiological measure may allow for the detection of more subtle effects than would a self-report questionnaire alone. Healthy volunteers (N=60) will first complete the BDI and provide baseline measures of heart rate variability. Then they will attend two laboratory sessions, at which they will receive placebo or 0.2mg buprenorphine. The investigators have tested these low doses of buprenorphine in previous studies, and they produce measurable changes in mood and behavior in healthy volunteers. The investigators will collect measures of mood and physiological drug response (pupillometry, heart rate, and blood pressure) at regular intervals throughout each session, and will then examine their baseline indices of depressive symptomatology in relation to responses to the drug. The central hypothesis is that individuals with greater self-reported depressive symptoms and lower heart rate variability will experience the greatest enhancement of mood in response to buprenorphine. It is expected that this work will provide a better understanding of which individuals are most likely to experience positive mood effects in response to opioid drugs, and may therefore be at-risk for developing an opioid use disorder. Furthermore, it may lay the foundation for future research in the development of novel opioid-based treatments for depression.

Design: The study will use a 3-session within-subjects double-blind design in which participants will receive single doses of buprenorphine (0, 0.2 mg sublingual) in randomized order. All screening, orientation, and study session procedures will take place in the Human Behavioral Pharmacology Laboratory suite in the L4 wing of 5841 S. Maryland Ave.

Drug and Doses: Investigators will administer placebo, 0.2 mg buprenorphine (Temgesic) via sublingual tablet in counterbalanced order under double-blind conditions. These tablets dissolve within 5-8 minutes. This drug has been approved for treatment of severe pain. The onset of action after sublingual administration is 30 minutes, with a peak plasma concentration at 1/5-2 hours and a half-life of 5 hours. The dose of buprenorphine are very low, and the average maintenance dose for opioid abusers is 8 mg. Doses will be separated by at least 72 hours.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

38

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
    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
        • University of Chicago

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:

  • Healthy adult volunteers
  • High school education
  • Fluency in English
  • BMI between 19 and 30

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Medical conditions contraindicating study participation
  • Regularly medication use
  • Current or past opioid abuse or dependence
  • Current or past drug or alcohol dependence
  • Psychiatric illness
  • Women who are pregnant or nursing

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: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Low dose buprenorphine
Subjects all receive placebo, 0.2 mg buprenorphine in crossover design
Drug: 0.2mg Buprenorphine
Sublingual buprenorphine tablets (0.2mg)
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Subjects all receive placebo, 0.2 mg buprenorphine in crossover design
Drug: Placebo
Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Subjective Effects as Assessed by Score on "Feel Drug", "Feel High", "Like Drug", and "Want More" Subscales of the Drug Effects Questionnaire Subjective Response With and Without Buprenorphine
Time Frame: 0 through 3 hours after dosing.
The Drug Effects Questionnaire (DEQ) is a visual analog scale questionnaire that assesses the extent to which subjects experience four subjective states: "Feel Drug", "Feel High", and "Want More". The "Feel Drug", "Feel High", "Like Drug", and "Want More" subscales are reported. All subscales are scored on a visual analogue scale (scroll bar on computer screen) ranging from 0 -100. 100 represents the highest score for that subjective state, and the higher the score, the worse the outcome.
0 through 3 hours after dosing.

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Chicago

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

June 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 13, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 19, 2016

First Posted (Estimate)

January 20, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 29, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 6, 2019

Last Verified

April 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 14-0170

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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