Examining the Impact of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound (tFUS) on Reward Neural Circuitry

Mary Phillips, MD MD (Cantab)

Overview

The investigators aim to examine the immediate effect of transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) on brain activity and emotions in healthy adults as a first stage toward understanding the predisposing brain mechanisms of underlying substance use disorders.

In a small pilot study the investigators propose to demonstrate feasibility of using tFUS to target the ventral striatum (VS) in humans by examining VS target engagement by tFUS in healthy human volunteers using a reward processing task that reliably activates the VS.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Conditions

Impulsive Behavior

Interventions

tFUSDEVICE

tFUS is a brief stimulation of a part of the brain called the ventral striatum with low-intensity sound waves that pass through the scalp and skull safely.

Sham tFUSDEVICE

Sham tFUS goes through the motions of applying tFUS to the brain. Participants will know that one session will be a sham, but they will be blinded to which session is the sham

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 35 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * 18-35 years of age * No psychiatric history Exclusion Criteria: * Not between 18-35 years of age * Has psychiatric history * History of head injury, neurological, pervasive developmental disorder (e.g. autism), systemic medical disease and treatment (medical records, participant report) * Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score (cognitive state) \<24 * Premorbid North American Adult Reading Test (NAART) intelligent quotient (IQ) estimate\<85 * Visual disturbance: \<20/40 Snellen visual acuity * Left/mixed handedness (Annett criteria) * History of alcohol/substance use disorder (SUD) (all substances, including nicotine), and/or illicit substance use (except cannabis) over the last 6 months (Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders , 5th Edition (DSM-5) (SCID-5)). Urine tests on scan days will exclude current illicit substance use (except cannabis). Salivary alcohol tests on scan days will exclude intoxicated individuals * Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exclusion: metallic objects, e.g., surgical implants; claustrophobia; positive pregnancy test for females or self-report pregnancy * Unable to understand English * Individuals with a positive pregnancy test will be excluded from the study and not undergo a computerized tomography (CT) scan or MRI scan * Present or history of seizure disorder

Locations (1)

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal

The blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal indicates brain activity and connectivity

Time frame: 30-60 minutes

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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