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Gut-Brain Neural Coupling in Spinal Cord Injury

Gut-Brain Neural Coupling in Spinal Cord Injury

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT07052344
Enrollment
28
Registered
2025-07-04
Start date
2025-10-29
Completion date
2026-12-31
Last updated
2026-07-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

SCI - Spinal Cord Injury

Brief summary

The purpose of this research is to determine the effects of food on brain and stomach activity in persons with and without spinal cord injury (SCI).

Interventions

OTHERPreload condition

Participants will consume a fixed compulsory preload meal of Campbell's Tomato soup (\~300 grams) 30 minutes after the baseline assessments. Fifteen minutes after consuming the preload meal, participants will receive the ad libitum test meal, consisting of a pre-weighed serving of Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese (\~700 g).The pre-load condition will be completed at only one of two visits. Participation will be up to 2 weeks with the visits separated by up to 2 weeks. Duration for the pre-load condition visit will be up to 6 hours

Participants will only consume the ad libitum test meal, which consists of a pre-weighted serving of Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese (\~700 g). The ad-libitum meal will be consumed at both visits. Participation will be up to 2 weeks with the visits separated by up to 2 weeks. The ad-libitum control condition visit will take up to 2 hours.

Sponsors

University of Miami
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SEQUENTIAL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

, SCI and Controls * Adults, 18 to 70 years of age. * Sex, male or female. * Weight-stable (±3 kg) for the preceding 3 months (self-report). * Physically inactive adults not meeting weekly activity guidelines (\<150 min/week) for the preceding 3 months (self-report). * Fluent in written and spoken English.

Exclusion criteria

, SCI and Controls * Do not meet the inclusion criteria. * Current/regular smoker (defined by Center for Disease Control (CDC)/ National Institute of Health (NIH) as an adult who has smoked 100 cigarettes in his or her lifetime and who currently smokes either every day or every other day) (self-report). * Currently dieting and/or trying to gain or lose weight. * Vagus or recurrent laryngeal nerve injury (self-report). * Uncontrolled thyroid disease, such that they are not on thyroid medication (e.g., levothyroxine) to treat the condition (self-report) * Diabetes (type 1 or type 2) and/or currently taking anti-diabetic or glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)/dual agonist medications (self-report). * Gastrointestinal disease (self-report), such as inflammatory bowel disease (e.g. Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis), celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, gastroesophageal reflux disease, peptic ulcer disease, chronic pancreatitis, liver cirrhosis, and any condition requiring gastrointestinal surgery (e.g., bowel resection, colostomy, or ileostomy). * Swallowing disorder (self-report). * History of bariatric surgery * Food allergies/dislikes or dietary restrictions (i.e. vegan) (self-report). * Allergy to adhesives (self-report) * Open abdominal wounds or abdominal skin not intact. * Current use of probiotics/prebiotics (self-report). * Current use of medications that can impact appetite, body weight, and/or bowel function, such as prokinetic, antiemetic, narcotic analgesics, anticholinergic, anti-inflammatory, antipsychotic, or anti-obesity agents (self-report). * Pregnant (determined by urine pregnancy test) or breastfeeding women. * Non-adults (infants, children, teenagers). * Adults unable to consent * Prisoner. SCI-specific Eligibility Criteria Inclusion Criteria, SCI Only * At least 12 months post-SCI, denoting chronic injury * Complete American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Impairment Scale (AIS A) or motor-incomplete (AIS B) tetraplegia (SCI at or above C8 lesion) * Able to self-feed (self-report) * On a bowel care program every day or every other day (self-report).

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Phase amplitude coupling (PAC) strengthup to 2 weeksGut-brain connectivity will be assessed using phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) to examine the interaction between gastric electrical oscillations and cortical rhythms. PAC will be calculated from electrophysiological raw data to produce one unitless value ranging from -1 to 1, for each subject. The higher the value, the greater the gut-brain connectivity/PAC strength.

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTGuillermo Mederos
gxm1228@med.miami.edu305-243-4518
CONTACTGary J Farkas, PhD
gjf50@med.miami.edu305-243-4518
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORGary J Farkas, PhD

University of Miami

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Jul 18, 2026