Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of Neuropsychiatric Patients and Healthy Volunteers

NCT ID: NCT00004571

Last Updated: 2026-01-05

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Total Enrollment

3273 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2000-02-17

Brief Summary

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The purpose of this study is to use brain imaging technology to compare differences in brain structure, chemistry, and functioning in individuals with brain and mental disorders compared to healthy volunteers.

Schizophrenia is a brain disorder that results from subtle changes and abnormalities in neurons. These deficits likely occur in localized regions of the brain and may result in widespread, devastating consequences. The neuronal abnormalities are inherited through a complex combination of genetic and environmental factors. Brain imaging technologies can be used to better characterize brain changes in individuals with schizophrenia. This study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to identify predictable, quantifiable abnormalities in neurophysiology, neurochemistry and neuroanatomy that characterize schizophrenia and other neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Detailed Description

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This protocol is meant to provide a matrix for multiple, simultaneous brain imaging investigations using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3.0 Tesla (3T). We intend to study regional brain structure, physiology, and biochemistry in living human subjects, both healthy and ill. Based on multiple clinical, neuropathological, and functional neuroimaging studies, it is clear that schizophrenia is a brain disorder arising from subtle neuronal deficits (for lack of more specific terminology). These deficits likely arise in a few key regions such as dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and hippocampal formation, that result in widespread, multifaceted, and devastating clinical consequences. These neuronal deficits are clearly heritable, although in a complex fashion from multiple genes interacting in an epistatic fashion with each other and the environment. We hypothesize that these neuronal deficits, clearly resulting in quantifiable behavioral abnormalities in schizophrenic patients, will produce predictable, quantifiable aberrations in neurophysiology that we can "map" using magnetic resonance imaging. In spite of numerous functional imaging findings, clinical applications remain scarce and pathognomonic findings absent. Therefore, we do not anticipate that an approach based solely on any one modality is likely to significantly advance our knowledge base. Instead, we propose to create brain imaging datasets for individual human subjects predicated on 1) the appraisal of brain function from multiple domains simultaneously; 2) the characterization of brain function via summation and intercorrelation of these data; and 3) the digestion of these data based on the parsing of complex clinical phenomenology into quantifiable neurophysiological parameters. Thus, in addition to the identification of those parameters that best characterize and identify manifest schizophrenia (i.e., state variables), we hypothesize that some of these fundamental characteristics will be heritable. These fundamental characteristics, so-called endo- or intermediate phenotypes, represent powerful tools to find susceptibility genes and have already generated a number of linkage findings.

Conditions

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Schizophrenia Normal Physiology

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

CASE_CONTROL

Study Time Perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Study Groups

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Healthy volunteers

Healthy subjects from the community

No interventions assigned to this group

Schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia and psychosis

No interventions assigned to this group

Williams Syndrome

Individuals with copy number variation in the Williams Syndrome Region

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

CONTROLS:

No psychiatric or severe chronic medical illness at the time of the study, and by history. This includes the absence of substance abuse histories, learning disabilities and all DSM IV disorders. The investigators will evaluate medical histories and medical conditions that are judged not to interfere with the study may be allowed.

No use of psychotropic substances in the last 3 months.

There is no upper age limit. The lower age limit is 18 years.

Controls will all have the capacity to consent.

PATIENTS:

Schizophrenia, any subtype or schizo-affective disorder according to DSM IV .

Bipolar Disorder with Psychotic Features according to DSM IV.

Menstrually-Related Mood Disorder.

Mild to Moderate Parkinson's Disease (Hoehn and Yahr Stage 1-3).

Williams Syndrome (partial or full) with IQ in the normal range.

Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

Exclusion Criteria

CONTROLS AND PATIENTS:

Impaired hearing.

Pregnancy.

Head trauma with loss of consciousness in the last year, or any evidence of functional impairment due to and persisting after head trauma.

Patients or healthy volunteers with a known risk from exposure to high magnetic fields (e.g. patients with pace makers) and those who have metallic implants (e.g. braces) in the head region (likely to create artifact on the MRI scans) will be excluded from participating in the fMRI studies.

History of any (excepting nicotine-related) DSM5-defined moderate to severe substance use disorder (or DSM-IV-defined substance dependence).

Cumulative lifetime history of any (excepting nicotine-related) DSM5-defined mild substance use disorder (or any DSM-IV-defined substance abuse), either in excess of 5 years total or not in remission for at least 6 months.

NIMH employees and staff and their immediate family members will be excluded from the study per NIMH policy.

Non-NIMH NIH employees and staff may participate and will be given the NIH Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for NIH Staff Who are Considering Participation in NIH Research.

PATIENTS:

Coexistence of another major mental illness at the time of the study. If the patients experienced other mental illnesses in the past (e.g. a learning disability or major depression), then this should be judged to be fully recovered.

Major concurrent medical illness likely to interfere with the acquisition of the task.

Concomitant medications which could interfere with performance on the task.

Involuntary movements that interfere with positioning in the MRI scanner).
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

120 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Karen F Berman, M.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Locations

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National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Ianni AM, Eisenberg DP, Boorman ED, Constantino SM, Hegarty CE, Gregory MD, Masdeu JC, Kohn PD, Behrens TE, Berman KF. PET-measured human dopamine synthesis capacity and receptor availability predict trading rewards and time-costs during foraging. Nat Commun. 2023 Sep 30;14(1):6122. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-41897-0.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 37777515 (View on PubMed)

Kippenhan JS, Gregory MD, Nash T, Kohn P, Mervis CB, Eisenberg DP, Garvey MH, Roe K, Morris CA, Kolachana B, Pani AM, Sorcher L, Berman KF. Dorsal visual stream and LIMK1: hemideletion, haplotype, and enduring effects in children with Williams syndrome. J Neurodev Disord. 2023 Aug 26;15(1):29. doi: 10.1186/s11689-023-09493-x.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 37633900 (View on PubMed)

Rubinstein DY, Eisenberg DP, Carver FW, Holroyd T, Apud JA, Coppola R, Berman KF. Spatiotemporal Alterations in Working Memory-Related Beta Band Neuromagnetic Activity of Patients With Schizophrenia On and Off Antipsychotic Medication: Investigation With MEG. Schizophr Bull. 2023 May 3;49(3):669-678. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sbac178.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 36772948 (View on PubMed)

Marenco S, Meyer C, van der Veen JW, Zhang Y, Kelly R, Shen J, Weinberger DR, Dickinson D, Berman KF. Role of gamma-amino-butyric acid in the dorsal anterior cingulate in age-associated changes in cognition. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Oct;43(11):2285-2291. doi: 10.1038/s41386-018-0134-5. Epub 2018 Jul 3.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 30050047 (View on PubMed)

Jabbi M, Cropp B, Nash T, Kohn P, Kippenhan JS, Masdeu JC, Mattay R, Kolachana B, Berman KF. BDNF Val66Met polymorphism tunes frontolimbic circuitry during affective contextual learning. Neuroimage. 2017 Nov 15;162:373-383. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.08.080. Epub 2017 Sep 1.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 28867340 (View on PubMed)

Wei SM, Baller EB, Kohn PD, Kippenhan JS, Kolachana B, Soldin SJ, Rubinow DR, Schmidt PJ, Berman KF. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met genotype and ovarian steroids interactively modulate working memory-related hippocampal function in women: a multimodal neuroimaging study. Mol Psychiatry. 2018 Apr;23(4):1066-1075. doi: 10.1038/mp.2017.72. Epub 2017 Apr 18.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 28416813 (View on PubMed)

Jabbi M, Chen Q, Turner N, Kohn P, White M, Kippenhan JS, Dickinson D, Kolachana B, Mattay V, Weinberger DR, Berman KF. Variation in the Williams syndrome GTF2I gene and anxiety proneness interactively affect prefrontal cortical response to aversive stimuli. Transl Psychiatry. 2015 Aug 18;5(8):e622. doi: 10.1038/tp.2015.98.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 26285132 (View on PubMed)

Jabbi M, Kohn PD, Nash T, Ianni A, Coutlee C, Holroyd T, Carver FW, Chen Q, Cropp B, Kippenhan JS, Robinson SE, Coppola R, Berman KF. Convergent BOLD and Beta-Band Activity in Superior Temporal Sulcus and Frontolimbic Circuitry Underpins Human Emotion Cognition. Cereb Cortex. 2015 Jul;25(7):1878-88. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bht427. Epub 2014 Jan 23.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 24464944 (View on PubMed)

Related Links

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Other Identifiers

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00-M-0085

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: secondary_id

000085

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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