Differential Responses to Drugs and Sweet Tastes (HAP)

May 19, 2022 updated by: University of Chicago

Hypomania, Amphetamine, and Preferences for Sweets

Young adults who exhibit "bipolar phenotype" (BPP), defined as occasional episodes of mood elevation and heightened activity, are at risk for several psychiatric disorders, including problem use of drugs and alcohol. Mood elevation has been linked to higher alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders. Individuals with BPP show elevated lifetime prevalence of alcohol use disorders (between 39%-61%), figures that exceed those reported in both major depression and schizophrenia. Recently, the investigators demonstrated in a controlled laboratory study that individuals with BPP (but not meeting criteria for full Bipolar I Disorder), report dampened responses to a single dose of alcohol, compared to placebo. In the current study, the investigators seek to extend these findings to determine if young adults reporting BPP, based on a questionnaire, will exhibit reduced responses to other rewarding stimuli, such as d-amphetamine and sweet tastes. The investigators hypothesize that the BPP individuals will exhibit dampened subjective responses to stimulant and sweet taste rewards compared to healthy controls.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This study will extend the understanding of risk factors for drug or alcohol misuse, or other reward-related behaviors. The investigators previously showed that individuals who report occasional feelings of high energy and excitability experience less effect from a single dose of alcohol, compared to people who have not experienced these effects. Now the investigators wish to determine if this dampened response also occurs with other rewards, namely feelings of wellbeing after a dose of amphetamine, or liking of a sweet solution. Individuals who exhibit the BPP (i.e., periods of excitability) also are more likely to develop alcohol problems, substance misuse, and weight gain and obesity. Therefore, the investigators will test the working hypothesis that young adults who report having these experiences, based on a questionnaire measure (i.e., BPP individuals) will show dampened subjective responses to both single oral doses of amphetamine or sweet palatable tastes. The investigators will also obtain objective measures (e.g. Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia and heart rate) to amphetamine and sweet taste, to establish whether the dampened subjective response extends to physiological indices as well. This study will extend the previous literature regarding the blunted effects of alcohol in BPP individuals and will suggest possible mechanisms that promote broader addictive behaviors in individuals with mood disturbance. Importantly, the investigators are proposing to test individuals at a relatively young age, 18-19 years. This is important to identify a risk factor, that is thought to pre-date use of drugs. In older participants, it would be difficult to separate the role of the pre-existing trait from the effect of habitual drug or alcohol use that escalates markedly after age 20.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

93

Phase

  • Phase 1

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
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60637
        • University of Chicago Medical Center - Human Behavioral Pharmacology Lab

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 19 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Aged 18-19 years old
  • BMI of 19-26
  • Physical/EKG/Medical History/Medications Approved by Physician for d-amphetamine
  • at least High School education
  • Fluent in English

Exclusion Criteria:

  • No Current Mood, Anxiety, Eating or Psychotic Disorder
  • No current psychotropic medication
  • No Recent Drug Dependence
  • < 4 alcoholic drinks/day for males; < 3 alcoholic drinks/day for females (monthly average)
  • No weekly (or more frequent) illicit drug use
  • No women who are pregnant, nursing, or planning pregnancy within 3 months (birth control is okay)

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: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: placebo arm
Participant will receive placebo oral capsule during this four hour session.
Drug: Placebo oral capsule
Placebo oral capsule
Experimental: amphetamine 10 mg arm
Participant will receive d-amphetamine 10 mg oral capsule during this four hour session.
Drug: d-amphetamine 10 mg oral capsule
d-amphetamine 10 mg oral capsule
Experimental: amphetamine 20 mg arm
Participant will receive d-amphetamine 20 mg oral capsule during this four hour session.
Drug: d-amphetamine 20 mg oral capsule
d-amphetamine 20 mg oral capsule

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Subjective Effects as Assessed by Score on "Feel Drug", "Feel High", "Like Drug", and "Want More" Sub-scales of Drug Effects Questionnaire (DEQ).
Time Frame: End of study (Baseline - time 0 and approximately 4 weeks later)
Participants will complete The Drug Effects Questionnaire during the initial baseline session to determine their subjective stimulant profile. The Dug Effects Questionnaire (DEQ) is a visual analog scale questionnaire that assesses the extent to which subjects experience four subjective states: "Feel Drug", "Feel High", "Like Drug", and "Want More". All sub-scales 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.
End of study (Baseline - time 0 and approximately 4 weeks later)

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 (Actual)

February 9, 2017

Primary Completion (Actual)

August 9, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

August 9, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 1, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 17, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

January 22, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

February 22, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 19, 2022

Last Verified

May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • IRB16-1293

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

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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