Mood, Social Behavior
Conditions
Keywords
mood, empathy, mimicry, emotional reactivity, prosody
Brief summary
Rationale: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a psychiatric disorder whose onset, severity, and duration are influenced by interpersonal factors. The serotonin system is known to influence MDD risk. Recent research has suggested that serotonin may also play a role in regulating social behaviour. Therefore, it would be interesting to study the role of serotonin in responses to social stimuli in individuals at risk for MDD. Objective: This project aims to study how changes in serotonin alter interpersonal functioning in adults with or without a first degree family member diagnosed with MDD. The primary goal is to investigate the effect of experimentally lowered brain serotonin levels on empathic accuracy. Secondary goals are to determine how this manipulation influences verbal and non-verbal communication, cardiovascular function in a social context, and mood. An exploratory goal is to investigate how these outcomes are related to genes thought to be involved in MDD.
Detailed description
see summary
Interventions
DIETARY_SUPPLEMENTtryptophan depletion
tryptophan depletion involves the ingestion of an amino acid mixture that is devoid of tryptophan. on the other day participants receive placebo, being the same mixture but including tryptophan
Sponsors
University of Groningen
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE (Subject, Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Age 18 to 65 yrs * At least one first-degree family member with MDD, Family History (FH) positive, or no first and -second degree family members with MDD, FH negative * Willingness to cooperate, to sign written informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* Any current or past Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) IV Axis I mood disorder, anxiety disorder, psychotic disorder, eating disorder, or somatoform disorder as determined by Structured Clinical Interview for DSM interview * Any current substance use disorder * Any past substance dependence * Ongoing medical treatment for a chronic disease, particularly cancer, gastrointestinal disease, phenylketonuria, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or disease of the liver or kidneys * Not speaking Dutch fluently * Current or past use of neuroleptics, sedative drugs, antidepressants etc. * On test days, a positive urine test for drugs of abuse * For women, initiation of hormonal contraceptive treatments 3 months prior to screening, or a positive urine test for pregnancy on test days
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Empathic Accuracy | 45 minutes | Empathic Accuracy is assessed with a computer task, approximately 6 hrs after completion of the amino acid mixture |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Behavioral mimicry | 10 minutes | Behavioral mimicry is assessed in two experiments. In the first experiment, mimicry of a person in a video is assessed. In a second experiment mimicry is assessed in response to the investigators mannerisms |
| Emotional Prosody (EP) | 10 minutes | EP is assessed in two experiments. In the first experiment, EP is assessed in response to a video. In a second experiment EP is assessed in a dyad with the investigator. |
| blood | 10 minutes | blood is analysed for levels of tryptophan, oxytocin and cortisol |
| heart rate variability | 1 hour | hrv is measured in response to emotional video clips |
Other
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Serotonin transporter polymorphism | 1 day | From one of the blood samples collected we will isolate whole blood for DNA extraction in order to analyse the serotonin transporter polymorphism |
Countries
Netherlands
Outcome results
None listed