Multimodal Neuroimaging of Stress and Reward Cues to Assess Alcoholism Risk and Relapse
Alcohol Dependence

About this trial
This is an interventional diagnostic trial for Alcohol Dependence
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Male and females, aged 18-60 years;
- Good health as verified by screening examination;
- Able to read English and complete study evaluations;
- Able to provide informed written and verbal consent;
- AD sample must meet DSM-5 criteria for AUD as assessed using SCID-I and have positive alcohol urine toxicology screens on admission to study; while HC group must never have met criteria for AUD, with non-binging and nonhazardous alcohol intake levels( men: below15 drinks/week; women: less than 8 drinks/week); and with negative alcohol urine toxicology screens; Page
Exclusion Criteria:
- Meet current criteria for dependence on another psychoactive substance, excluding nicotine; (ii) Current use of opiates or past history of opiate abuse/dependence;
- Regular use of anticonvulsants, sedatives/hypnotics, prescription analgesics, other antihypertensives, anti-arrhythmics, antiretroviral medications, SSRI's naltrexone, antabuse;
- Psychotic or otherwise severely psychiatrically disabled (i.e., suicidal, homicidal, current mania);
- Significant underlying medical conditions such as a history of seizure disorder, cerebral, renal, thyroid or cardiac pathology which in the opinion of study physician would preclude subjects from fully cooperating or be of potential harm during the course of the study;
- Any psychotic disorder or current Axis I psychiatric symptoms (excluding anxiety disorders) requiring specific attention, including need for psychiatric medications;
- hypotensive individuals with sitting blood pressure below 90/50 mmHG;
- Women who are pregnant, nursing or refuse to use a reliable form of birth control (as assessed by pregnancy tests during initial medical evaluation, and assessed every two weeks during the course of the study); and
- those with metal in their body excluded from MRI due to safety.
Sites / Locations
- Yale Stress Center
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Arm 3
Experimental
Active Comparator
Active Comparator
Treatment Seeking Alcohol Dependent Adults
Social Drinking Controls
Prazosin/Placebo Group
Group consists of 100 treatment seeking alcohol dependent (AD) men and women (ages 18-60). AD subjects will complete either 8 weeks of outpatient treatment at the Yale Stress Center, or the first 4 weeks as inpatient treatment at the CNRU, followed by 4 weeks of outpatient treatment at the Yale Stress Center. While in outpatient treatment, AD subjects may be admitted to the CNRU or HRU for the 1-5 days prior to one or both of their scans, to ensure abstinence for their scans.
Group consists of demographically and handedness matched 50 socially drinking controls. Healthy controls will be moderate and binge/heavy social drinkers who will participate in a single MRI session after baseline assessments. Healthy controls may be admitted to the HRU overnight prior to their scan.
This is a separate group of 60 treatment seeking AD subjects in a NIAAA-funded RCT of Prazosin vs placebo for alcohol dependence ( PI: Sinha, Hic protocol 0705002691, NCT00585780) to assess target primary and secondary predictors of alcohol treatment outcomes in the context of a currently ongoing RCT. AD subjects enrolled in the PZ/PL RCT will NOT be given drugs as part of this study. That study and intervention is listed elsewhere (NCT00585780). Subjects will participate in a baseline scan and a second scan between weeks 10-12 of the 12-week RCT with follow-ups. PZ/PL is only given to subjects enrolled in 0705002691, not the current protocol.