Clinical trial NCT03828604: Stress-Induced Inflammation and Reward Processing
Official title: Stress-Induced Inflammation and Reward Processing
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Stress, Psychological
Keywords: reward processing
Lead sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2019-02-04
Enrollment: 57
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 28
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Acute Psychosocial stress vs. Non-stress active control
Primary purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE

Brief summary: Anhedonia, or loss of interest or pleasure, is a key feature of depression and transdiagnostic construct in psychopathology. Both theory and compelling evidence from preclinical models implicates stress-induced inflammation as a key psychobiological pathway to anhedonic behavior; however, this pathway has not been demonstrated in human models. Further, although anhedonia may reflect dysregulation in multiple dimensions of reward, the extent to which stress-induced inflammation alters these dimensions is unclear. The current placebo controlled study used a standardized laboratory stressor task to elicit an inflammatory response in a sample of a healthy young women and evaluate effects of stress-induced inflammation on multiple behavioral indices of reward processing.

Detailed description: In this study we propose to examine the association between psychosocial stress, the stress-induced inflammatory response, and reward processing in a female undergraduate sample. Specifically, we will 1) examine effects of an acute psychosocial stressor on reward processing; 2) evaluate the association between stress-related changes in inflammation and reward processing; and 3) test key vulnerability factors that may moderate the association between stress and reward. To achieve these goals, this study will recruit 60 female undergraduate students to test effects of stress on reward processing in a 3.5 hour laboratory session. Participants will be randomly assigned to either experience a laboratory stressor or a placebo control, and will complete reward tasks 90 minutes post stress/placebo onset, at which point the peripheral inflammatory response to stress reaches its peak. The reward tasks are computerized behavioral tasks that assess three domains of reward processing: reward-learning, reward motivation, and reward sensitivity. Throughout the session, all participants will complete self-report measures of affect and provide blood and saliva samples for evaluation of the psychological and physiological stress response. Within one week prior to the session, participants will attend a 1 hour visit in which they complete baseline reward tasks and self-report questionnaires assessing mood, personality, early life stress, and health behaviors. In total, participants will complete two visits, with a duration of 4.5 hours. This study builds upon prior studies demonstrating immediate effects of acute stress on reward processing, and further tests for delayed effects of acute stress on reward processing. Furthermore, this will be the first study to examine inflammation as a mechanism linking stress to deficits in reward processing. Findings may inform theory of depression etiology and contribute to more specialized treatment that is targeted at specific symptoms of depression.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* English fluency
* Age 18-28
* Biologically female

Exclusion Criteria:

* Current illness
* Presence or history of major medical conditions
* Current or past diagnosis of alcohol use disorder
* Use of tobacco
* Use of immune-altering medications
* Current pregnancy

Primary outcomes:
measure: Probabilistic Reward Task - Reward Responsiveness
timeFrame: Pre-TSST/P-TSST and 90 min post-TSST/P-TSST
measure: Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task - Reward Motivation
timeFrame: Pre-TSST/P-TSST and 120 min post-TSST/P-TSST
measure: Attentional Bias Task
timeFrame: Pre-TSST/P-TSST and 110 min post-TSST/P-TSST
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task - Reward Sensitivity
timeFrame: 120 min post-TSST
measure: Face Morphing Task
timeFrame: Pre-TSST/P-TSST and 115 min post-TSST/P-TSST
Other outcomes:
measure: Depressive symptoms
timeFrame: Change in depressive symptoms from study entry to 4-month follow-up
measure: Affective experience during the experimental session
timeFrame: Entry, pre-TSST/P-TSST; during TSST/P-TSST; 60, 90, 120, 150 min post TSST/P-TSST
Locations:
city: Los Angeles
country: United States
facility: Clinical and Translational Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles
state: California
Study officials:
affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles
name: Chloe C Boyle, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles
name: Julienne E Bower, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Boyle CC, Stanton AL, Eisenberger NI, Seeman TE, Bower JE. Effects of stress-induced inflammation on reward processing in healthy young women. Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Jan;83:126-134. doi: 10.1016/j.bbi.2019.09.023. Epub 2019 Sep 30.