Cerebellar Involvement in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)
Investigation of Cerebellar Involvement in AUD
Johns Hopkins University
122 participants
Oct 12, 2023
INTERVENTIONAL
Conditions
Summary
The goal of this observational and interventional study is to better understand the involvement of the cerebellum in the brain reward system in persons with alcohol use disorder (AUD). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. What is the nature of cerebellar input to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the brain reward system, and how is it perturbed in AUD? 2. What is the relationship between measures of cerebellar integrity and magnitude of reward activation to alcohol-related cues in cerebellar, VTA and other brain reward structures? 3. What is the therapeutic potential of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for modulating alcohol cue reactivity, associated alcohol craving, and cerebellar - VTA functional connectivity in the brain reward system? Persons with AUD will be compared with healthy control participants.
Eligibility
Inclusion Criteria1
- completed at least 8 years of education
Exclusion Criteria14
- Estimated Intelligence Quotient (IQ) < 90
- less than 5th grade reading level
- Left handed
- Non-fluent in English
- current drug use disorder other than alcohol (except nicotine and caffeine) and or recent drug use in the last 90 days
- Positive breath alcohol level at time of MRI scan or discrepancies between alcohol biomarker and self-report that cannot be resolved
- Exhibiting symptoms of alcohol withdrawal on visit 1 assessment
- Significant current psychiatric distress and or treatment
- History of any central nervous system disorder, presence of a seizure disorder, or use of anticonvulsant medication in the past 3 months
- any serious medical condition detected on assessment or by medical record review; or have liver function tests more than three times normal at screening
- History of metal implantation that would preclude MRI scanning; or other implants, pumps, pacemakers that would be contraindications for MRI scanning
- Abnormal MRI scan or history of significant closed head trauma
- Evidence of dementia
- For women, pregnancy
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Interventions
TDCS is a safe and non-invasive technique for modulating cortical excitability and behavior. TDCS, delivered via surface electrodes, induces an intracerebral current flow sufficient to achieve changes in cortical excitability. Anodal stimulation up-regulates cortical excitability, while cathodal stimulation decreases excitability.
Locations(1)
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NCT05732207