Clinical trial NCT04606225: Losartan Effects on Emotion-memory Interaction
Official title: The Role of the Renin-angiotensin System in Emotion-memory Interactions
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Healthy
Keywords: Losartan
Emotion-memory interaction
Lead sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2020-10-28
Enrollment: 60
Sex: MALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 30
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a single dose of losartan (50 mg) can affect emotion-memory interaction in healthy humans and its underlying neural mechanisms.

Detailed description: Animal models and initial findings in humans suggest a role of the renin-angiotensin system in cognitive and emotional processes. Accumulating evidence demonstrates modulatory effects of the angiotensin antagonist losartan in the domains of memory and emotional processing. Against this background the present study aims to investigate the behavioral and neural effects of a single dose of losartan on emotional processing and emotion-memory integration in healthy subjects. In a double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled pharmaco-fMRI experiment, 60 male participants will be randomized to a single dose of losartan (50 mg) or placebo, and encode emotional pictures during fMRI (scheduled 90 minutes after drug administration). Then 24 hours post fMRI participants will finish a surprise recognition memory test to estimate the emotion effects on subsequent memory.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders
* Right-handedness
* Normal or corrected-normal version

Exclusion Criteria:

* History of head injury
* Medical or psychiatric illness
* Hypertension
* General cardio-vascular alteration or diseases
* Allergy against medications
* Visual or motor impairments
* Claustrophobia
* Drug addiction
* Nicotine dependence
* FMRI contradictions

Primary outcomes:
measure: fMRI-based indices of neural activity during processing of emotional stimuli will be compared between the treatment groups
timeFrame: 120 to 150 minutes after treatment
measure: fMRI-based indices of neural activity for subsequently successfully remembered as compared to non-remembered stimuli will be compared between the treatment groups
timeFrame: 120 to 150 minutes after treatment
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) ratings of arousal of the stimuli will be compared between the treatment groups
timeFrame: 120 to 150 minutes after treatment
measure: Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) ratings of valence of the stimuli will be compared between the treatment groups
timeFrame: 120 to 150 minutes after treatment
measure: Memory performance in terms of correctly recognized stimuli will be compared between the treatment groups
timeFrame: 24 hours after treatment
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Chengdu
country: China
facility: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
state: Sichuan
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
name: Benjamin Becker, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Xu T, Zhou X, Jiao G, Zeng Y, Zhao W, Li J, Yu F, Zhou F, Yao S, Becker B. Angiotensin Antagonist Inhibits Preferential Negative Memory Encoding via Decreasing Hippocampus Activation and Its Coupling With the Amygdala. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2022 Oct;7(10):970-978. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2022.05.007. Epub 2022 May 30.