Differentiating the Effects of Substance P and Beta-endorphin
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT01854177. 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
Differentiating the Effects of Substance P and Beta-endorphin in the Perception of Breathlessness During Resistive Load Breathing in Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
In previous studies we demonstrated that endogenous opioids (inhibitory neuropeptides) modulate the perception of breathing difficulty in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Recently, we found that antagonism of substance P (an excitatory neuropeptide) with aprepitant did not affect the perception of breathing difficulty. However, after administration of aprepitant, blood levels of both substance P(+ 54 ± 39%) and beta-endorphin (+ 27 ± 17%) increased significantly. As these blood levels reflect cellular/tissue activity, we postulated that the concomitant release of excitatory (substance P) and inhibitory (beta-endorphin) neuropeptides had opposing effects (counterbalanced each other) on the perception of breathing difficulty. The objective of the present study is to further examine the possible role of substance P on the perception of breathlessness. We propose to administer oral aprepitant and oral placebo in a randomized clinical trial in patients with COPD. However, four hours after patients take these medications, intravenous naloxone will be administered in order to block the effects of endogenous opioids (beta-endorphin) on opioid receptors. Five minutes later, patients will breathe thru a tube with fine wire mesh to provoke breathing difficulty, and then provide ratings of the intensity and unpleasantness of breathlessness every minute. The two competing hypothesis of the study are: 1. if breathlessness ratings with aprepitant/naloxone = placebo/naloxone, then substance P has no effect on perception of breathing difficulty; 2. if breathlessness ratings with aprepitant/naloxone ≠ placebo/naloxone, then substance P has an effect on perception of breathing difficulty.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT01854177
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 10 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 50 Years to 90 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
- Jun 30, 2013
- Primary completion
- Oct 31, 2013
- Completion
- Oct 31, 2013
- Last update posted
- Oct 29, 2018
2013
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center | Lebanon | New Hampshire | 03756-0001 | — |
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 NCT01854177, 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 Oct 29, 2018 · Synced Sep 3, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT01854177 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.