Measurement of the Hippocampal Theta Rhythm From the Outer Ear Canal
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2022-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
New technologies are needed to help diagnose anxiety disorders. EVestG has facilitated the
identification of numerous possible biomarkers of several psychiatric disorders. Some EVestG
features seem to be caused by differences in low-frequency modulation that is consistent
(both in frequency and behaviour) with the hippocampal rhythm (theta), which is known to play
a role in anxiety. Critically, there is ample support in the literature for an anatomical and
functional basis for the modulation of vestibular signals via theta. If anxiety could be
measured continuously, perhaps throughout a patient's day, or throughout a task, it might be
able to confirm an anxiety disorder. However, current techniques for measuring theta are
highly invasive, performed rarely, and only in epilepsy patients. EVestG technology, however,
is non-invasive, and could potentially record anxiety levels in any subject for extended
periods of time. The proposed study will attempt to identify hippocampal theta in vestibular
signals in healthy participants through a double-blind administration of two different drugs
that are dissimilar both pharmacologically and in acute clinical effects but which are known
to reduce the theta rhythm.