The purpose of this study is to use positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to measure the activity of the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) in the brains of depressed and non-depressed individuals.
The kappa opioid receptor (KOR) has been implicated in the etiology of fear, threat, and anhedonia in animal models of human depression psychopathology. Herein, we propose to study the KOR in vivo using positron emission tomography, and we will also measure the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis in all study participants. We propose to recruit up to N=50 medication-free individuals using a transdiagnostic approach, measure their KOR-selective radioligand \[11C\]LY2795050 volumes of distribution (VT), an equivalent of KOR availability using positron emission tomography (PET) and study the role of the KOR in mediating the quality and severity of the depressive phenotype.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
15
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging
NYU School of Medicine
New York, New York, United States
[11C]LY2795050 volume of distribution (VT) values in specific brain regions of asymptomatic vs mildly symptomatic vs moderately symptomatic vs severely symptomatic individuals
To use the KOR radioligand \[11C\]LY2795050 and PET to examine the relation between KOR availability in the ventral striatum and amygdala, and the full dimensional spectrum of threat and loss symptomatology, and reward responsiveness.
Time frame: one month
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