Clinical trial NCT03657212: Enhancing Memory Consolidation in Older Adults
Official title: Enhancing Memory Consolidation in Older Adults
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: TERMINATED
Phase: PHASE4
Conditions: Aging
Lead sponsor: University of California, Irvine
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2018-09-04
Enrollment: 10
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 60
Maximum age (years): 75
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: The purpose of this research study is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying long-term memory formation in older adults. Both sleep and memory decrease with age. The investigators are interested in discovering whether these two biological changes are related. This study is specifically focused on understanding what are the critical components of sleep that facilitate memory formation and are they impaired in older adults. The investigators will be using the hypnotic zolpidem, a sleep drug that has been shown to increase a specific aspect of sleep that have been shown to correlate with memory improvement in young adults. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved zolpidem for use in certain sleep disorders, specifically in the treatment of sleeplessness (i.e., insomnia). In the current study, the investigators will examine whether zolpidem (5mg), compared with placebo, increases memory-related sleep events in older adults and test the impact of these drug-related sleep changes on post-sleep memory recall.

This is a research study because the investigators are using pharmacological interventions to investigate our hypotheses about memory consolidation. The investigators are not studying the efficacy of zolpidem to treat conditions for which the FDA has already approved it.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* English speaking
* non-smoker
* between the ages of 60 to 75, without major medical problems
* have a regular sleep wake schedule, defined as obtaining 6-9 hours of sleep per night, with a habitual bedtime before 2am and a habitual wake time before 10am
* must have experience with Ambien to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* have a sleeping disorder (reported or detected on questionnaires)
* have any personal or immediate family history of diagnosed mental disorders
* have any personal history of head injury with loss of consciousness greater than 2 minutes or seizures
* have a history of substance dependence
* currently use any medications that could affect sleep and/or thought processes
* have any cardiac, respiratory or other medical condition which may affect cerebral metabolism
* have dementia
* have non-correctable vision and hearing impairments, due to the nature of the stimulus and its presentation, will also be excluded.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Memory Recall
timeFrame: baseline to 12 hour recall test
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Electroencephalography (EEG) Activity During the Naps
timeFrame: second intervention occurs at least 7 days after the first intervention
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Irvine
country: United States
facility: Sleep and Cognition Lab
state: California
Study officials:
affiliation: University of California, Irvine
name: Sara C Mednick, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: