The Impact of Lorazepam on Cognition in APOE e4 Carriers

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2007-07-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

We expect the results of this pilot study to justify a larger study that follows people to determine if certain tests of memory and attention, performed while sleepiness is induced by a single dose of lorazepam (a widely used anti-anxiety medication) could predict an individual's risk of developing AD. We plan to compare cognitively normal people who possess a common gene that increases risk for AD- the apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele-to individuals without this gene. We hypothesize that a single 2 mg dose of lorazepam will cause more cognitive impairment in carriers of the APOE e4 allele than in noncarriers, and that the carriers will recover more slowly from these impairments than noncarriers.

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

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Mayo Clinic
• Collaborator: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Treatments: Lorazepam

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• a score of at least 28 on the MMSE

• a score of less than 10 points on the HAM-D-17

• age 50-65

• genotype APOE e3/e4 or APOE e4 non-carriers

• cognitively normal

Exclusion Criteria:

• significant medical, psychiatric, or neurological illnesses

• use of benzodiazepines within the previous four weeks

• currently using sedating antihistamines