The Effects of Losartan on Reward Reinforcement Learning

Healthy Clinical Trial

Official title:

The Role of the Renin-angiotensin System in Reward Reinforcement Learning

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04604938
• Other study ID #: UESTC-neuSCAN-75
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: October 10, 2020
• Est. completion date: March 31, 2022

Study information

• Verified date: October 2020
• Source: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Contact: Weihua Zhao, PhD
• Phone: 86-28-61830811
• Email: zarazhao.uestc[@]outlook.com
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study aims to investigate whether a single dose of losartan (50 mg) can affect learning from positive and negative outcomes and its related neural mechanisms.

Description:

Emerging evidence suggests that the renin-angiotensin system can impact dopamine (DA) transmission and its modulatory role in reward processing. For instance, recent animal models have found that the angiotensin antagonist losartan reduces rewarding effects of methamphetamine and nicotine by modulating DA release in the striatum.The present study thus will investigate losartan effects on reward reinforcement learning and the underlying neural mechanisms. In a double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled design, 60 healthy male subjects will be randomly assigned to receive single-dose losartan (50 mg) or placebo, 90 minutes before performing a probabilistic reinforcement learning task during fMRI.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 60
• Est. completion date: March 31, 2022
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Male
• Age group: 18 Years to 30 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders

• Right-handedness

• Normal or corrected-normal version

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of head injury

• Medical or psychiatric illness

• Hypertension

• General cardio-vascular alteration or diseases

• Allergy against medications

• Visual or motor impairments

• Claustrophobia

• Drug addiction

• Nicotine dependence

• FMRI contradictions

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Healthy

Intervention

Drug:
• Losartan
administration of losartan (50 mg) (oral)
• Placebo oral tablet
administration of placebo (oral)

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
China	University of Electronic Science and Technology of China	Chengdu	Sichuan

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Country where clinical trial is conducted

China, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	BOLD-level activity as assessed by fMRI during the learning phase	During the paradigm subjects will learn the reward properties of stimuli via the presentation of trial-wise feedback. The neural activation during the prediction of positive and negative outcome feedback will be assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), particularly in prefrontal and subcortical regions. The effects of treatment will be determined by comparing the losartan- and placebo-treated groups.	90 minutes to 110 minutes after treatment
Primary	BOLD-level activity as assessed by fMRI during the learning transfer phase	Following the initial learning phase subjects learning transfer will be examined by asking subjects to choose between stimuli with high versus low reward probabilities. The neural activation during correct responses will be assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), particularly in prefrontal and subcortical regions. The effects of treatment will be determined by comparing the losartan- and placebo-treated groups.	111 minutes to 120 minutes after treatment
Secondary	Choice accuracy for the stimulus with the high reward probability during the learning phase	During the learning phase accuracies (in percent) for choosing the stimulus with the highest reward probability will be computed. Effects of treatment on choice accuracy in the probabilistic learning task will be examined by comparing accuracies (percent) between the losartan- and placebo-treated group.	90 minutes to 110 minutes after treatment
Secondary	Learning rate for positive and negative outcomes	The learning rate will be determined by performing computational modelling. The learning rate index for positive and negative outcomes during the learning phase will be compared between the losartan- and placebo-treated group.	90 minutes to 110 minutes after treatment
Secondary	Choice accuracy during the learning transfer phase	Following the initial learning phase subjects learning transfer will be examined by asking subjects to choose between stimuli with high versus low reward probabilities. For the transfer phase the choice accuracy for selecting stimuli with the highest reward probability and avoiding stimuli with the lowest reward probability will be computed. The effects of treatment will be determined by comparing the accuracy between the losartan- and placebo-treated groups.	111 minutes to 120 minutes after treatment