Active clinical trials for "Depressive Disorder, Major"

This is an open-label dosing pilot study of 15 patients aged 18-50 years of age with diagnoses of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) randomized to 1 of 3 treatment arms. The study will consist of a screening evaluation performed within the course of 2 weeks, followed by an active treatment period of 28 days where treatment arm 1 will take a supervised dose of 300mg DXM every 14 days for 28 days, treatment arm 2 will take the FDA approved maximum daily ingestion for cough (60mg DXM) daily for 28 days, and treatment arm 3 will take 1 supervised dose of 300mg DXM and 60mg for the remaining 28 days. After the active treatment period, subjects will be followed for 65 days with safety and psychiatric assessments at designated timepoints.

Pregnenolone, an over-the-counter supplement, is a naturally occurring neurosteroid made in the adrenal glands and brain. Preclinical research suggests pregnenolone has antidepressant, cognitive enhancing, and neuroprotective properties, particularly in women. The following hypothesis will be tested in this trial: pregnenolone is associated with improvement in depressive symptom severity in women that is associated with changes in the resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) and GABA.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an investigational and therapeutic modality that impacts the connection strength between neurons by delivering patterned energy. In response to this patterned energy neurons fire and adapt by changing their connection strengths. This change in connection strengths is believed to be the underlying mechanism whereby this intervention has therapeutic benefit for this intervention in conditions such as depression. The purpose of this study is to test a means of enhancing the effect of rTMS using a medication (cycloserine) that has been shown to augment and stabilize activity dependent neuronal changes. The investigators wish to use the motor system, where the associated muscle response to brain stimulation can be measured, to probe activity dependent changes in connection strength between neurons.

Attaining goals or rewards commonly entails response costs. In light of cost and benefits, how do participants decide what effort should be put in to give it a shot? Figuratively, you may "go with your gut", but the literal contribution of the gut-brain axis in allocating effort is poorly understood to date. Here, the investigators propose to investigate non-invasive transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS) as a potential modulator of energy metabolism and response vigor. Since the neural mechanisms causing the diverse cognitive and behavioral effects of the stimulation remain largely elusive, the investigators will use computational modeling of instrumental behavior and determine the primary metabolic effects of the stimulation. The investigators hypothesize that tVNS will lead to activation of afferent targets in the brain. In turn, the elicited brain activation is expected to mediate the cognitive effects of the stimulation. This may affect both sides of the utility equation because anti-depressive effects may correspond to boosting the benefit of effort whereas anti-nociceptive effects may reduce perceived costs of effort. Collectively, dissecting the cognitive effects of non-invasive tVNS in healthy individuals may facilitate the more widespread use as a treatment in mental disorders that are characterized by metabolic alterations such as depression.

This study will evaluate the short term effects of respiratory-gated transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on the regulation of cardiovagal activity, depressive symptomatology and immune function in subjects with major depression and determine the optimal stimulation frequency for this population.

This study is being conducted to understand the use of a mobile app (titled Pathway) to help patients track depression symptoms, medications, side effects, and goals in addition to the usual care with their doctor. Investigators will compare the effect of the app over 6 months and examine whether the app can increase engagement between patients and their doctor and help in the management of illnesses as patients start a new treatment for depression. The investigators hope that using an app to facilitate management of depression symptoms, medication use, and side effects will help patients and their providers understand their response to medications and lead to better response and improvements in depression.

The study is looking at assessing monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) occupancy in depressed patients before and after medication treatment using positron emission tomography (PET) scan.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent, chronic and/or recurrent condition with substantial morbidity and mortality. It is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Despite significant advances in pharmacological treatment for depression over the last two decades, a significant proportion of patients (10-20%) are resistant to currently available treatment. The development of new effective treatment for depression is limited by the fact that MDD is a heterogeneous disorder with subgroups based on variations in etiological factors and treatment response. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) approaches offer promise in the prediction and evaluation of clinical response of antidepressant treatment. Previous fMRI studies have identified increased activity in dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and decreased amygdala activity from the baseline as imaging markers of antidepressant response in patients with MDD. However, these studies have examined MDD as a homogenous group without specifying the type of patient group, and brain regions as a priori hypothesis.We therefore need studies using combined genetics and neuroimaging measures as biomarkers in the prediction and evaluation of clinical response to antidepressants. In this study we attempted to determine imaging clinical efficacy markers in previously defined brain regions (amygdala and prefrontal regions) for two classes of antidepressants (citalopram and quetiapine extended release (XR)) with differential action on serotonin transporter inhibition in a subgroup of MDD patients with high risk allele ( S/Lg) of serotonin transporter gene polymorphism.

Insufficient cognitive control over emotional distracters is characteristic for major depressive disorder (MDD). Hypoactivation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is associated with this deficit. In this study the investigators assess the effect of an enhancement of dlPFC activity in MDD patients by anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on cognitive control. In a double-blinded, balanced randomized, sham-controlled crossover trial the investigators determine the effect of a single-session tDCS to the left dlPFC on cognitive control in MDD patients and healthy controls. To assess the cognitive control the investigators use a delayed response working memory (DWM) task with pictures of varying valence presented during the delay period.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety of PDC-1421 Capsule in healthy subject, find the effective adequate dose for the next stage of the study, and accumulate information of possible mechanism of its anti-depressive effect.