Towards an understanding of individual variability of GABAA function.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An investigation of individual variability in GABAA receptors, in a healthy population, as measured with positron emission tomography.
IRAS ID
247156
Contact name
Chris Marshall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 31 days
Research summary
The present study will recruit people who have previously taken part (or who are due to take part) in a larger scale brain imaging study at Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (Ethics number: EC.18.08.14.5332R). The aim of the study is to explore individual variability in brain structure and function. GABA is the leading inhibitory neurotransmitter in the human brain. It has been a target for a number of researchers previously based on its role in various neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. One way of measuring GABA in the brain is with PET imaging. PET provides a gold standard method for measuring biological processes and mechanisms. The PET imaging component of the study (relating to this application) will allow researchers to examine how variations in GABAA receptor density relate to variations in behaviour, cognition and other imaging measures of brain structure and function. We hope that this study will provide foundation for clinical studies exploring alterations in GABAA receptor density in clinical populations. In addition to the PET component of this study we will collect a range of information from participants about their medical history, family medical history and lifestyle and wellbeing (exercise questionnaire). We may also collect cognitive/questionnaire data relevant for GABA based studies including anxiety and depression, motivation, risk taking, curiosity. Cognitive tasks include evaluating risk taking and inhibition based tasks.
REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
19/WA/0115
Date of REC Opinion
16 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion