Conditions: Basic Science
Keywords: opioid subjective stress buprenorphine
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 48
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
In this study, the investigators will examine the effects of buprenorphine, as compared to placebo, upon physiological, subjective, and hormonal responses to a stressful speech task and a non-stressful control task in healthy adults. There is strong evidence in support of the role of endogenous opioids and opiates in mediating social behavior in humans and other animals, and particularly, in social distress. Recently it has been shown that buprenorphine, a partial mu-opioid agonist, reduces sensitivity to recognition of fearful facial expressions in humans. Here, the investigators propose to further explore the role of the opioid system in mediating stress responses in humans through the use of buprenorphine. The investigators hypothesize that buprenorphine with reduce both physiological and subjective measures of stress.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: Healthy volunteers receive placebo during session (within-subjects design). arm 2: Healthy volunteers receive buprenorphine (0.2 mg) during session (within-subjects design). arm 3: Healthy volunteers receive buprenorphine (0.4 mg) during session (within-subjects design).

Interventions: intervention 1: Buprenorphine 0.2 MG Sublingual Tablet intervention 2: Placebo intervention 3: Buprenorphine 0.4 MG Sublingual Tablet
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: This is a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment during which each participant will receive sublingual buprenorphine (0.2) intervention 2: This is a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment during which each participant will receive a placebo intervention 3: This is a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled experiment during which each participant will receive sublingual buprenorphine (0.4)

Protocol document: