The primary objective is to evaluate whether the method of histidine depletion can be used to lower histidine levels in the blood and whether it affects information processing in similar ways as can be done using antihistamines. Secondary, we will…
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Brief title
Condition
- Other condition
Synonym
Health condition
geen aandoening
Research involving
Sponsors and support
Intervention
Outcome measures
Primary outcome
The main endpoint is the behavioural score on the critical tracking task, a
task that measures psychomotor performance. Secondary, the behavioural and
event-related potential response during simple and choice reaction time tasks
will be analysed. A further important parameter is the change in histidine
blood plasma level after histidine depletion.
Secondary outcome
Secondary are the behavioural and brain activity scores during a verbal
learning task, the Sternberg working memory scanning, and a visual oddball
paradigm. These tasks enable us to assess the specificity of the effects of
histidine depletion.
Background summary
A decrease in histamine availability in the brain usually affects some types of
information processing, which has previously been shown when treating people
with antihistamines. In this experiment, we intend to mimic these effects by
investigating a novel method to experimentally lower central histamine levels
by means of precursor depletion using amino acid administration.
Study objective
The primary objective is to evaluate whether the method of histidine depletion
can be used to lower histidine levels in the blood and whether it affects
information processing in similar ways as can be done using antihistamines.
Secondary, we will assess whether histidine depletion affects information
processing in similar ways as does tyrosine depletion.
Study design
The study will be conducted according to a double-blind, placebo-controlled,
3-way cross-over design.
Intervention
Participants will be treated with histidine depletion, tyrosine depletion, or a
placebo. All treatments are provided to the volunteer as a drink. The treatment
order will be established by complete counterbalancing.
Study burden and risks
The time investment for the participants will be around 24 hours in total,
which is comprised of 1) medical assessment by questionnaire (around 1 hour),
2) training session in which the tasks will be practised (around 2 hours), and
3) three test sessions of around 7 hours. The day before a recording, the
participants may not eat and drink after 10 o*clock PM, except for water.
Furthermore, they are not allowed to drink any alcohol. On each test day, the
participants will follow a protein-low diet. At the beginning of a test day, a
catheter is placed to be able to take blood samples at 5 different time points.
Universiteitssingel 40
6229 ER Maastricht
Nederland
Universiteitssingel 40
6229 ER Maastricht
Nederland
Listed location countries
Age
Inclusion criteria
male or female, between 18 and 35 years of age, healthy (absence of exclusion criteria), normal static binocular acuity, body mass index between 18.5 and 30, willingness to sign an informed consent.
Exclusion criteria
history of cardiac, hepatic, renal, pulmonary, neurological, gastrointestinal, haematological or psychiatric illness, excessive drinking (>20 glasses of alcohol containing beverages a week), pregnancy or lactation, use of medication other than oral contraceptives, use of recreational drugs from 2 weeks before until the end of the experiment, and any sensory or motor deficits which could reasonably be expected to affect test performance. Those volunteers who have a first-degree relative with a psychiatric disorder or a history of a psychiatric disorder will also be excluded.
Design
Recruitment
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In other registers
| Register | ID |
|---|---|
| CCMO | NL15303.068.06 |