Inositol Depletion and Emotion
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effects of short-term inhibition of inositol monophosphatase on brain inositol levels and emotion recognition in healthy volunteers
IRAS ID
161185
Contact name
Philip J Cowen
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Bipolar disorder (manic depression) is a relatively common psychiatric disorder for which treatment options are limited. A drug called lithium is an important treatment for bipolar disorder but has a number of problematic side effects. To replace lithium with other better tolerated drugs we need to have a clearer understanding of how lithium works in the human brain. Lithium is thought to alter the way people process emotional information and is believed to do this through blocking the formation of a brain chemical called inositol.
An antioxidant drug called ebselen has previously been shown to reduce inositol levels in mice and humans. In the present study, we propose to reproduce this effect of ebselen on brain inositol levels in a dose-related way. If ebselen does reduce brain inositol and also alters the way emotional information is processed, it will confirm that inositol depletion is an important target for lithium in humans and lead to the development of inositol-selective drugs for the treatment of bipolar illness.
In this study we plan to measure the effect of two doses of ebselen (600 mg and 1200 mg) plus placebo (a matching dummy pill) on inositol and emotional processing in 20 healthy volunteers.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/1299
Date of REC Opinion
22 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion