Alzheimer's Disease, Healthy, Mild Cognitive Impairment
Conditions
Keywords
Dementia, Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI, levodopa, learning, enhancement
Brief summary
This study aims to determine whether levodopa is effective in boosting learning and memory in healthy subjects and patients with dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment. We also examine in healthy subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging which brain regions mediate improved learning after levodopa administration.
Detailed description
Prior work of our group shows that the dopamine precursor levodopa markedly improves word learning success in healthy subjects. In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, we probe whether administration of levodopa improves learning performance as compared to placebo administration on neuropsychological tests and in an associative learning paradigm. We postulate that levodopa improves learning success and memory performance in healthy subjects, while the effect in patients with dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment might depend on other factors, including severity of memory impairment.
Interventions
DRUGLevodopa
Sponsors
University Hospital Muenster
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
for patients with dementia: * Patients: clinical diagnosis of AD or mild cognitive impairment * primary language German
Exclusion criteria
for healthy subjects and patients with dementia/MCI: * Known allergy to levodopa or tetrazine * History of medication/drug abuse * Acute nicotine withdrawal or \> 15 cigarettes per day * \> 6 cups/glasses of coffee, caffeine drinks or energy drinks per day * \> 50 grams of alcohol per day * Severe hypertonia (systole \>160 mm Hg) * Severe arteriosclerosis * Diabetes, asthma, or glaucoma * Severe hearing disability * no focal brain lesions * Premorbid depression or psychosis * Medication with dopamine agonists or antagonists * Parkinsonian symptoms
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Cognitive performance assessed by neuropsychological tests and learning paradigms under placebo and levodopa in healthy subjects and patients with dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment. | — |
| Brain activity pattern during learning under levodopa as compared to placebo in healthy subjects. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Long-term stability of learning performance after 1 month in healthy subjects. | — |
Countries
Germany
Contacts
Primary ContactBernward Winter, MSc
Outcome results
None listed