Orexin's Role in The Neurobiology of Substance Use Disorder
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2027-12-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Study Description:
Despite the availability of pharmacotherapy for some substance use disorders, relapse
vulnerability is still a significant issue. This suggests medications with alternative
mechanisms of action should be explored to address this unmet need. Substantial preclinical
research indicates that orexin antagonism blunts the internally and externally triggered
motivation to attain abused substances. This research project will translate these
preclinical findings into the clinical domain by administering the FDA approved orexin
antagonist, suvorexant, to those with a substance use disorder. Suvorexant's ability to blunt
neurobiological correlates of substance misuse will be assessed. This will be assessed
following acute and repeated drug administration. Baseline individual differences will be
considered to determine whether neurobiological variance influences suvorexant's impact.
Objectives:
The objective is to determine the acute and chronic impact of the orexin antagonist,
suvorexant, on neurobiological and behavioral factors linked with substance use disorders.
Whether such effects are mediated by baseline characteristics will be tested. Given
suvorexant is an FDA approved treatment for insomnia, sleep will be evaluated as well.
Endpoints:
Suvorexant's impact on brain function will be assessed several ways by evaluating: 1) resting
function, 2) reactivity to drug cues, 3) reactivity to non-drug related cognitive tasks.
Sleep and nicotine use will be measured throughout the study period.