Study of GABA-A Receptors in the Generation of Tics in Patients With Tourette's Syndrome
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00034398. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Evaluation of Density and Pattern of Distribution of GABA A Receptors in Brain of Patients With Tourette's Syndrome Studied With PET Using [11C] Flumazenil
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
This study will investigate how the brain generates tics in patients with Tourette's syndrome and which areas of the brain are primarily affected. Tourette's syndrome is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics, and is associated with behavioral and emotional disturbances, including symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This study will examine whether tic generation is related to changes in brain cell receptors for a chemical messenger called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Healthy normal volunteers and patients with Tourette's syndrome between 21 and 65 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with a medical history and physical and neurological examinations. Participants will undergo positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to measure brain blood flow. For this procedure, the subject receives an injection of H215O, a radioactive substance similar to water. A special camera detects the radiation emitted by the H215O, allowing measurement of the blood flow. Subjects will receive up to five injections of H215O during the scanning. They will also be injected with another radioactive chemical, (11C) flumazenil, which binds to GABA receptors, to measure the density and distribution of these receptors. This will reveal which areas of the brain in patients with Tourette's syndrome have abnormal binding of flumazenil compared with the brains of healthy control subjects. During the PET procedure, the subject lies on a table in the PET scanner. A small catheter (plastic tube) is placed in an arm vein for injecting the radioactive tracers, and a mask is placed on the face to help keep the head still during scanning. The mask has large openings for eyes, nose and mouth, so that it does not interfere with talking or breathing. The entire test takes about 3 hours. On a separate day, participants will also undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a diagnostic test that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of the brain. For this procedure, the subject lies still on a stretcher that is moved into the scanner (a narrow cylinder containing the magnet). Earplugs are worn to muffle loud noises caused by electrical switching of radio frequency circuits used in the scanning process. The scan lasts about 45 to 60 minutes. ...
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00034398
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Observational
- Phase
- Not listed
- Enrollment
- 26 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
Not listed
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 65 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Accepts healthy volunteers
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Apr 23, 2002
- Primary completion
- Not listed
- Completion
- Mar 10, 2010
- Last update posted
- Jul 1, 2017
2002 – 2010
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike | Bethesda | Maryland | 20892 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00034398, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jul 1, 2017 · Synced Sep 5, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00034398 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.