Conditions: Cocaine Related Disorders
Keywords: Cocaine Addiction Cocaine Dependence
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 112
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
Stress and cues reminiscent of cocaine use promote craving and relapse in cocaine dependent individuals. In addition, there appears to be gender differences in determinants of relapse to drug use following abstinence in cocaine-dependent individuals. Therefore the purpose of the present study is to study the role of hormonal status on the response to cocaine-related cues with or without stress in cocaine-dependent women and men.

Detailed description:
Cocaine dependence is an insidious disease underscored by a strong propensity to relapse despite knowledge of the repercussions of continued drug-use. Stress and cocaine cues produce craving and ultimately relapse in cocaine dependent individuals. Pre-clinical research has demonstrated sex differences in response to cocaine-conditioned cues and cocaine-primed reinstatement, which correlates well with reduced plasma progesterone levels. Interestingly, this is consistent with a growing body of clinical literature indicating that progesterone may decrease the reinforcing properties of stimulants in women. Gender differences in the response to a social stressor and cocaine cues in cocaine-dependent individuals have been demonstrated in human laboratory studies, however, the interaction of stress and cues and the effect of hormonal status on response have not been explored. This study examines the role of hormonal status on the response to cocaine-related cues with or without a pharmacological stressor (yohimbine) in cocaine-dependent women and men. As a further integration of the research focus this study also explores the relationship between impulsivity and craving.

Arms:
arm 1: Cocaine dependent females, received yohimbine day 1 and placebo day 2 arm 2: Cocaine dependent females, received placebo day 1 and yohimbine day 2 arm 3: Cocaine dependent males, received yohimbine day 1 and placebo day 2 arm 4: Cocaine dependent males, received placebo day 1 and yohimbine day 2 arm 5: Non-dependent females, received yohimbine day 1 and placebo day 2 arm 6: Non-dependent females, received placebo day 1 and yohimbine day 2 arm 7: Non-dependent males, received yohimbine day 1 and placebo day 2 arm 8: Non-dependent males, received placebo day 1 and yohimbine day 2

Interventions: intervention 1: Yohimbine intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Participants were pre-treated with either yohimbine or placebo. intervention 2: None

Protocol document: