Neurobiological Mechanisms in Panic Disorder
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00103987. 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.
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Official title
Neurobiological Mechanisms in Panic Disorder: Behavioral, Genetic, & Neural Correlates of Noradrenergic Function
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
This study will examine brain and noradrenaline function in panic disorder. Noradrenaline is a brain chemical that is involved in the regulation of emotion, anxiety, sleep, stress hormones such as cortisol, and other body functions that are disturbed in panic disorder. Healthy normal volunteers and patients with panic disorder between 18 and 60 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with psychiatric and medical histories, a physical examination, blood and urine tests, and an electrocardiogram. Participants undergo the following tests and procedures: * Blood draw to obtain DNA for genetic studies of panic disorder - particularly of a gene that helps control noradrenaline activity - and to grow cell lines that can be frozen and used for future research on the disorder. * Magnetic resonance imaging: MRI uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce images of body tissues and organs. For this procedure, the subject lies on a table that is moved into the scanner (a narrow cylinder), and wears earplugs to muffle loud knocking and thumping sounds that occur during the scanning process. The procedure lasts about 60 minutes, during which the patient is asked to lie still for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. * Yohimbine injection with PET scanning: Catheters (plastic tubes) are placed in two veins, one to administer yohimbine, a drug that increases noradrenaline activity in the body for about 60 minutes, and one to draw blood samples. Yohimbine often causes temporary trembling, goosebumps, and clammy palms, and may cause emotions such as elation, anxiety, panic attacks, or depression. During yohimbine administration, subjects undergo positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. PET uses small amounts of a radioactive chemical called \[fluoro-18\]-fluorodeoxyglucose that "labels" active areas of the brain, showing patterns of glucose (sugar) metabolism. For the procedure, the subject lies on the scanner bed, with a special mask fitted to his or her head and attached to the bed to help keep the head still. A brief "transmission" scan is done just before the radioactive tracer is injected in order to calibrate the scanner. After the tracer is injected through the catheter, pictures are taken for about an hour, while the subject lies still on the scanner bed. * Saline injection with PET scanning: The procedure is the same as that described above, except a saline solution is administered as placebo instead of yohimbine.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00103987
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Observational
- Phase
- Not listed
- Enrollment
- 54 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
Not listed
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 60 Years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Feb 13, 2005
- Primary completion
- Not listed
- Completion
- Nov 11, 2010
- Last update posted
- Jul 1, 2017
2005 – 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 NCT00103987, 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 4, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00103987 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.