Cognition and Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Brain Inflammation in Obesity (NIFOB)

March 8, 2023 updated by: Sarah Eisenstein, Washington University School of Medicine

Neuroinflammation in Obesity

The rate of obesity in the United States is high and is a risk factor for concurrent cognitive impairment and, in late life, dementias such as Alzheimer's disease. In order to prevent or reduce cognitive impairment, the mechanism underlying the link between obesity and cognitive impairment must be understood. The current study aims to provide preliminary data on whether brain inflammation occurs in obesity and relates to cognitive deficits using magnetic resonance neuroimaging and cognitive testing. It is hypothesized that obese individuals will have greater brain inflammation and lower cognitive function compared to normal-weight individuals. Further, it is predicted that brain inflammation will relate to cognitive function and plasma indicators of inflammation in obese individuals.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Initially, normal-weight or obese potential participants are screened by a phone interview that assesses medical history. Obtainment of informed consent and further screening occurs on the day of the study visit. Participants then undergo a 2 hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) including blood draws for metabolic and inflammatory marker levels in plasma. Lunch is then provided. Participants are then administered 30 minute computer-based cognitive testing from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery. After cognitive testing, participants undergo 1.5 hour magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that includes structural, diffusion tensor, and functional MR imaging.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

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
    • Missouri
      • Saint Louis, Missouri, United States, 63110
        • Washington University School of Medicine

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 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Non-obese (body mass index = 18 - 25 kg/m^2) or Obese (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m^2
  • Any race or ethnicity
  • Native English speaker

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Past or current diabetes
  • Current psychotropic medication use
  • Past or current neurological illness
  • Past or current substance or alcohol misuse
  • Past or current mental illness
  • Current binge eating disorder
  • Magnetic resonance imaging contraindications
  • Pregnancy
  • Currently lactating
  • Tobacco use within past month
  • Over 350 lb

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: Other
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Normal-weight
Participants who have a body mass index within the normal-weight category.
Procedure: Oral glucose tolerance test
After 8 hours fasting overnight, an intravenous catheter is placed in the arm or hand for blood draws. Participants drink 75 grams of an oral glucose drink after baseline blood samples are drawn. More blood draws occur at 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 min post-glucose drink.
Behavioral: Cognitive testing
For approximately 40 minutes, participants are assessed for cognitive function using computer-based tests available from the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery (Weintraub et al., 2013), including attention and executive functioning, episodic memory, working memory, language, processing speed, and immediate recall.
Procedure: Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans will be performed in a 3 Tesla MRI scanner over 1.5 hours. Participants will be asked to lay down flat on their backs and to try to stay still throughout the MRI scan. The participant will wear MRI-safe headphones to block out noise due to the MRI scans. Participant comfort will be verbally checked on throughout the scan and the participant will be provided with a 'squeeze ball' to signal the MRI technician that they want to get out of the scanner immediately.
Active Comparator: Obese
Participants who have a body mass index within the obese category.
Procedure: Oral glucose tolerance test
After 8 hours fasting overnight, an intravenous catheter is placed in the arm or hand for blood draws. Participants drink 75 grams of an oral glucose drink after baseline blood samples are drawn. More blood draws occur at 10, 20, 30, 60 and 120 min post-glucose drink.
Behavioral: Cognitive testing
For approximately 40 minutes, participants are assessed for cognitive function using computer-based tests available from the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery (Weintraub et al., 2013), including attention and executive functioning, episodic memory, working memory, language, processing speed, and immediate recall.
Procedure: Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans will be performed in a 3 Tesla MRI scanner over 1.5 hours. Participants will be asked to lay down flat on their backs and to try to stay still throughout the MRI scan. The participant will wear MRI-safe headphones to block out noise due to the MRI scans. Participant comfort will be verbally checked on throughout the scan and the participant will be provided with a 'squeeze ball' to signal the MRI technician that they want to get out of the scanner immediately.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Brain Inflammation Metrics in Obese and Normal-weight Individuals as Measured by Magnetic Resonance Image-based Diffusion Basis Spectrum Imaging (DBSI)
Time Frame: 1.5 hours at the end of one (up to) 8 hour study day that includes all outcome measures
Diffusion Basis Spectrum Imaging (Cross and Song, 2017) is a computational method that will be applied to diffusion tensor images of the brain to estimate putative inflammation-related markers including cellularity and edema in obese and normal-weight individuals. DBSI metrics are quantitative but unitless. Cellularity and edema fractions of the total diffusion signal (including axial, radial, restricted (cellularity) and hindered (edema)) will be estimated in brain white matter tracts.
1.5 hours at the end of one (up to) 8 hour study day that includes all outcome measures
Cognitive Function in Obese and Normal-weight Individuals as Measured by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox Cognitive Battery and DBSI Putative Neuroinflammation Metrics
Time Frame: 40 minutes during one (up to) 8 hour study day that includes all outcome measures; after OGTT and prior to MRI
Cognitive performance including fluid and crystallized cognition composite T-scores from computer-based NIH Cognitive Toolbox assessments (Weintraub et al., 2013) will be assessed in obese and normal-weight individuals. These T-scores will include scores from tasks that assess attention and executive functioning, episodic memory, working memory, language, processing speed, and immediate recall (see NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery website). T-scores are corrected for socioeconomic status and their distribution has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Higher T-scores indicate better cognitive function. T-scores will be correlated with DBSI-assessed neuroinflammation metrics including restricted fraction (DBSI RF, putative cellularity) and hindered fraction (DBSI HF, putative vasogenic edema) in brain white matter tracts.
40 minutes during one (up to) 8 hour study day that includes all outcome measures; after OGTT and prior to MRI

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Washington University School of Medicine

Collaborators

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Tamara Hershey, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine

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

Helpful Links

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)

March 19, 2019

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 30, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

October 30, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 2, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 2, 2019

First Posted (Actual)

October 4, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 10, 2023

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 8, 2023

Last Verified

March 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 201805053
  • P30DK020579 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data is available immediately as of August 15, 2022 for 5 years.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Upon reasonable request

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE

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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