Neuro-affective Response to Light in Depressed Adolescents and Young Adults

The goal of this neuroimaging pilot study is to understand developmental differences in the impact of therapeutic wavelength light (blue light) versus a non-therapeutic wavelength (red light) on emotional brain function in depression. The main questions this study aims to answer are:

• Does acute exposure to blue light (vs red light) stabilize emotional brain function in depressed individuals?
• Are stabilizing effects of blue light (vs red light) stronger for blue light in adolescents than young adults?

Participants will complete:

• A magnetic resonance imaging brain scan, in which we will examine the effect of blue versus red light on emotional brain function at rest and in response to rewards and losses.
• A pupillometry test of sensitivity to blue vs red light
• Clinical interviews and surveys
• Screening measures for drug and alcohol use, MRI safety, and current pregnancy [if relevant]
• Home sleep tracking with sleep diary and actigraphy for one week

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Depression in Adolescence; Depression in Adults
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Blue Light; Other: Red Light

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Adriane M Soehner, PhD; Phone Number: 4122466651; Email: soehneram2@upmc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Allison Caswell, BS; Phone Number: 4122466652; Email: caswella@upmc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
      • Recruiting
      • Western Psychiatric Hospital
      • Contact: Allison Caswell; Phone Number: 412-246-6652; Email: caswella@upmc.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Adriane M Soehner, PhD
      • Sub-Investigator: Henry Chase, PhD
      • Sub-Investigator: Kathryn Roecklein, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years to 30 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Elevated Depressive Symptoms [PHQ9≥5 And (Item 1≥1 or Item 2≥1)]
• (If <18yr) Parent or guardian can attend the baseline clinical interview

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unable to read and write in English
• Intellectual disability.
• Left or mixed handedness
• Changes to psychotropic medication type or dosage in the past 2 months
• Lifetime bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, or substance/alcohol disorder in the past 3 months.
• Factors influencing light and color sensitivity (i.e., color-blindness, serious ophthalmological conditions, photo-sensitizing medication).
• Factors influencing the ability to maintain a stable sleep schedule (i.e., shift work, severe sleep disorders, extremely late or early sleep schedule).
• Severe medical illness, neurological disorders, or history of head trauma.
• Current pregnancy or nursing
• MRI contraindication (e.g., metals in the body, recent tattoo, claustrophobia)
• Positive alcohol or substance use screen at MRI visit

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Blue then Red Light; Blue light (480 nm) then Red light (640 nm)	Other: Blue Light; Blue light exposure; Other: Red Light; Red light exposure
Experimental: Red Light then Blue Light; Red light (640 nm) then Blue light (480 nm)	Other: Blue Light; Blue light exposure; Other: Red Light; Red light exposure

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Amygdala cerebral blood flow during Blue vs Red light exposure	Cerebral blood flow will be assessed using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling collected during blue and red light exposures. Regional cerebral blood flow in the amygdala region of interest will be examined.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Ventral Striatum cerebral blood flow during Blue vs Red light exposure	Cerebral blood flow will be assessed using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling collected during blue and red light exposures. Regional cerebral blood flow in the ventral striatum region of interest will be examined.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Amygdala activity (loss>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Activation is defined by blood oxygen dependent signal within an amygdala region of interest on loss versus neutral (no win/no loss) trials.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Ventral Striatum activity (punish>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Activation is defined by blood oxygen dependent signal within a ventral striatum region of interest on win versus neutral (no win/no loss) trials.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Medial prefrontal cortex cerebral blood flow during Blue vs Red light exposure	Cerebral blood flow will be assessed using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling collected during blue and red light exposures. Regional cerebral blood flow in the medial prefrontal region of interest will be examined.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Insula cerebral blood flow during Blue vs Red light exposure	Cerebral blood flow will be assessed using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling collected during blue and red light exposures. Regional cerebral blood flow in the insula regions of interest will be examined.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex cerebral blood flow during Blue vs Red light exposure	Cerebral blood flow will be assessed using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling collected during blue and red light exposures. Regional cerebral blood flow in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex regions of interest will be examined.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Amygdala-whole brain functional connectivity (loss>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Functional connectivity is defined as a psychophysiological interaction between the seed region (amygdala) and the whole brain on loss versus neutral (no win/no loss) trials	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity (loss>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Activation is defined by blood oxygen dependent signal within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region of interest on loss versus neutral (no win/no loss) trials.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Insula activity (loss>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Activation is defined by blood oxygen dependent signal within the insula region of interest on loss versus neutral (no win/no loss) trials.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Medial prefrontal cortex activity (win>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Activation is defined by blood oxygen dependent signal within the medial prefrontal region of interest on win versus neutral (no win/no loss) trials.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Ventral striatum-whole brain functional connectivity (win>neutral) during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Functional connectivity is defined as a psychophysiological interaction between the seed region (ventral striatum) and the whole brain.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity, insula, and medial prefrontal activity, and amygdala- and ventral striatum whole brain functional connectivity (response bias; B') during Blue vs Red light exposure	This outcome will be measured during the an auditory probabilistic reward task, which is a computerized fMRI behavioral task. Activation is defined by blood oxygen dependent signal within the above regions of interest using a response bias metric (B'). Functional connectivity is defined as a psychophysiological interaction between the seed regions (amygdala, ventral striatums) and the whole brain.	Collected during the blue and red light exposures during the MRI scan at the lab visit

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
• Collaborators: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Adriane M Soehner, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): June 14, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): July 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 25, 2023
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 25, 2023
• First Posted (Actual): February 3, 2023

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 11, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 5, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Mood Disorders; Depression; Depressive Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY22040093; R21MH127294 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

IPD Plan Description

The investigators will complete and submit a National Data Archive (NDA) Data Sharing Agreement within 6 months of the Notice of Award Issue date. Study staff will upload data dictionary to the NDA website, and will review the NDA data definition for the measures collected and define the project's data definition harmonized to that standard. For measures not yet defined, project staff will work with the NDA staff to define the measure following NDA best practices. Informed consent will be collected from study participants that allows for broad sharing of participants' de-identified data. Study staff will use participants' personally identifiable information to generate NDA Global Unique Identifier (GUID) numbers for study participants.

All data will be identified by GUID numbers only prior to submission to the NDA database. Data transfer procedures will be in accordance with all Institutional Review Board guidelines and federal regulations including HIPAA.

• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Raw data and data from descriptive/raw measures will be submitted on a semi-annual basis by July 15 and January 15 or the next business day. We also agree to submit to NDA the analyzed data yielded in our project (i.e., 12 months after accomplishment of each primary aim or objective, or immediately upon publication of the project's primary results, whichever occurs first). The PIs reserve the right to publish on the stated aims in a timely manner during the period of the award. Data will be available for addressing other research questions (i.e. which are not described in funded/pending grants) as soon as the data have been checked for accuracy (a period which will be no later than one year after the completion of each assessment). After the award has ended, the study investigators will continue to test the stated aims, but will also continue to solicit collaborations with outside researchers and to consider data requests in a timely manner.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Outside investigators must submit a 1) proposal of the study aims, hypotheses, variables/constructs, analytic approach, and estimated duration of the proposed research; 2) resume, qualifications, source of financial support, and conflict of interest statement; 3)sign a data-sharing agreement and confidentiality statement that stipulates using the data for the stated research purposes only, securing the data using appropriate computer technology, not manipulating the data in order to identify participants, acknowledging the grant that supported data collection and management in publications/presentations, and destroying or returning the data after analyses are complete; 4) obtain approval from their Institutional Review Board, and along with other staff members who have access to the data, submit certificates of human subjects protection training.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No