Conditions: Anxiety Disorders
Keywords: anxiety functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI pregabalin Lyrica
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 16
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy controls to examine the acute effects of certain anxiolytic medications on brain function. In this case, the medication pregabalin will be used. The investigators hypothesize that pregabalin (at doses of 50 mg and 200 mg, versus placebo) will yield a reduction in amygdala and insula activity (in a dose-dependent fashion) during emotion processing using fMRI.

Detailed description:
Increased amygdala and insula activity have been implicated in neurobiological models of anxiety. Using fMRI, the anxiolytic medication, lorazepam, has previously been found to decrease activation in these areas during the processing of emotional stimuli. This study aims to replicate those results but by using a different medication, pregabalin. An eventual aim of this study, in combination with future studies, is to evaluate the utility of fMRI as a tool to identify anxiolytic function in both established and novel compounds that may be used to treat anxiety.

Arms:
arm 1: Pregabalin oral tablets (50 mg) arm 2: Pregabalin oral tablets (200 mg) arm 3: Placebo

Interventions: intervention 1: Pregabalin 50mg intervention 2: Pregabalin 200 MG intervention 3: placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: One dose of oral pregabalin (50 mg) to be administered one hour prior to fMRI scan intervention 2: One dose of oral pregabalin (200 mg) to be administered one hour prior to fMRI scan intervention 3: One dose of matched oral placebo to be administered one hour prior to fMRI scan

Protocol document: