Dopamine Receptor Contributions to Prediction Error and Reversal Learning in Anorexia Nervosa
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT04128683. 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
Toward Understanding Dopamine Receptor Contributions to Prediction Error and Reversal Learning in Anorexia Nervosa
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder associated with intense fear of weight gain, food refusal, and severe weight loss. AN has the highest mortality rate among the psychiatric disorders; however, little is known about biomarkers, and no medication has been approved for AN. Many individuals only partially recover, and treatment options, especially for the psychological components of the illness, are not very effective, highlighting the need for more effective treatments. Brain reward pathways have a direct impact on the drive to eat, and a variety of neuroimaging studies have suggested altered reward processing in AN. The neurotransmitter dopamine has a central role in the reward circuitry to drive food approach, and the dynamic interplay between dopamine receptor response and food restriction could have implications for the pathophysiology of AN. Dopamine-related brain function has been studied indirectly using functional magnetic resonance brain imaging (fMRI) and tasks that deliver reward stimuli unexpectedly, that elicit the so-called prediction error (PE) response. Research in AN showed repeatedly altered PE processing suggesting altered dopamine circuit function in the disorder. Dopamine and PE response have also been associated with altered reversal learning, which has important treatment implication for AN as reversal learning is impaired in the disorder and modulation of the dopamine system could improve treatment.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT04128683
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Early Phase 1
- Enrollment
- 31 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 29 Years
- Sex
- Female
- 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
- Oct 19, 2020
- Primary completion
- Sep 5, 2023
- Completion
- Dec 31, 2024
- Last update posted
- Apr 10, 2025
2020 – 2025
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California San Diego | San Diego | California | 92121 | — |
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 NCT04128683, 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 Apr 10, 2025 · Synced Sep 6, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT04128683 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.