7T Amygdala and Citalopram Study
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-40
SponsorUniversity of Oxford
About this trial
The goal of this study is to investigate how a common antidepressant citalopram (which increases the levels of the chemical messenger serotonin), affects how a key area of the brain involved in depression (the amygdala) responds to emotional information.
Healthy participants will undergo medical and psychiatric health screening, after which they will be assigned to receive either a single dose of citalopram (20mg) or placebo, and undergo brain scanning (7T fMRI) whilst viewing emotional faces. Since the scan uses high field strength, the investigators will be able to see effects of citalopram on different subfields within the amygdala which will help to understand how citalopram might be working.
Eligibility criteria
Qualifiers
Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the research
Sufficiently fluent English to understand and complete the task
Disqualifiers
Participants with ferromagnetic objects in their bodies (e.g. metal implants, vessel clips, shrapnel injuries) or with implanted devices which may be damaged by the magnet (e.g. heart pacemakers)
Any other MRI contraindication following MRI safety screening
History or current significant psychiatric illness (like major depressive disorder)
Current or past diagnosis of any significant personality disorder (e.g. borderline personality disorder) according to self-report
Trial design
Treatments tested in this trial
- Citalopram
- Placebo
Treatment groups
50 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsSponsors and collaborators
Source ClinicalTrials.gov