Ketamine/Placebo Family History Positive Study

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2015-06-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

The proposed study is the first to explore the contribution of brain glutamate systems, a major target of ethanol in the brain, to the vulnerability to develop alcoholism. This study may lead to an enhanced understanding of the underlying neurobiological mechanism in high-risk individuals that may lead to the transition from moderate to excessive use of alcohol.

• Phase: N/A
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Yale University
• Collaborators: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA); VA Connecticut Healthcare System
• Treatments: Ketamine

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Male and female between the ages of 21 and 30 years

2. Medically and neurologically healthy on the basis of history, physical examination, EKG, screening laboratories, absence of current and/or past substance abuse

For Family History Positive (FHP) Subjects: Biological father and another first or second-degree biological relative with history of alcoholism

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) psychiatric and substance abuse diagnosis by history on psychiatric evaluation that includes a structured diagnostic interview (The Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of alcoholism: SSAGA) and the Wisconsin Scales of Psychosis Proneness

2. History of counseling or psychotherapy; except family therapy centered around another family member

3. Extended unwillingness to remain alcohol-free for three days prior to testing and for the duration of the testing period

4. For women: positive pregnancy test at screening or intention to engage in unprotected sex during the study

5. Alcohol naïve

6. Previous bad experience with ketamine

7. Adoptee and no contact with family members

For Family History Negative (FHN) Subjects: NO family history of alcoholism in any first or second-degree relatives (subjects must reliably report on three first-degree relatives)