Conditions: Cocaine Dependence
Keywords: substance abuse cocaine impulsivity serotonin MRI
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 54
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of brain MRI findings in predicting treatment outcomes among individuals with cocaine dependence.

Detailed description:
The Specific Aims of this project are:

Aim 1: To determine whether pretreatment brain activation on fMRI while performing a Go-Nogo task predicts response to pharmacotherapy in cocaine dependent subjects.

Hypothesis related to Aim 1:

Pretreatment fMRI BOLD activation in cocaine dependent subjects during impulsive responding on the Go-Nogo task predicts 8-week outcome from medication known to enhance serotonin function (citalopram). The regression coefficient of TES on pretreatment mean BOLD activation on the Go-Nogo task will be significantly greater for the citalopram group than the placebo group.

Aim 2: To determine whether pretreatment brain activation on fMRI while performing an attentional bias (cocaine Stroop) task predicts response to pharmacotherapy in cocaine dependent subjects.

Hypothesis related to Aim 2:

Pretreatment fMRI BOLD activation in cocaine dependent subjects during cocaine related words on the cocaine Stroop task predicts 8-week outcome from medication known to enhance serotonin function (citalopram). The regression coefficient of TES on pretreatment mean BOLD activation from the cocaine Stroop task will be significantly greater for the citalopram group than the placebo group.

Arms:
arm 1: Citalopram (20mg dose) arm 2: None arm 3: Citalopram 40mg dose

Interventions: intervention 1: Citalopram intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 20 mg or 40 mg daily for 8 weeks intervention 2: Placebo daily for 8 weeks

Protocol document: