Effects of USP Methylene Blue on Cognitive and fMRI Brain Activity

Summary

The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether low-dose USP methylene blue (MB) will: i) improve short-term memory retention in a delayed match-to-sample task, ii) reduce reaction time in a psychomotor vigilance test, and iii) enhance responses to a visual-motor task as measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A single low-dose MB or placebo will be orally administered to self-declared healthy adults using double-blind study design. Non-invasive fMRI data will be acquired before and after MB administration in the same subjects. Each study will take 2-3 hours, inclusive of an hour break in between.

Timeline

Start

2013-08

Primary completion

2016-03

Completion

2016-03

Publications

• Background Riha PD, Bruchey AK, Echevarria DJ, Gonzalez-Lima F. Memory facilitation by methylene blue: dose-dependent effect on behavior and brain oxygen consumption. Eur J Pharmacol. 2005 Mar 28;511(2-3):151-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2005.02.001.
• Background Gonzalez-Lima F, Bruchey AK. Extinction memory improvement by the metabolic enhancer methylene blue. Learn Mem. 2004 Sep-Oct;11(5):633-40. doi: 10.1101/lm.82404.
• Background Wrubel KM, Riha PD, Maldonado MA, McCollum D, Gonzalez-Lima F. The brain metabolic enhancer methylene blue improves discrimination learning in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2007 Apr;86(4):712-7. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2007.02.018. Epub 2007 Mar 6.
• Background Wen Y, Li W, Poteet EC, Xie L, Tan C, Yan LJ, Ju X, Liu R, Qian H, Marvin MA, Goldberg MS, She H, Mao Z, Simpkins JW, Yang SH. Alternative mitochondrial electron transfer as a novel strategy for neuroprotection. J Biol Chem. 2011 May 6;286(18):16504-15. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M110.208447. Epub 2011 Mar 18.
• Background Lim J, Wu WC, Wang J, Detre JA, Dinges DF, Rao H. Imaging brain fatigue from sustained mental workload: an ASL perfusion study of the time-on-task effect. Neuroimage. 2010 Feb 15;49(4):3426-35. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.11.020. Epub 2009 Nov 24.
• Background Bruchey AK, Gonzalez-Lima F. Behavioral, Physiological and Biochemical Hormetic Responses to the Autoxidizable Dye Methylene Blue. Am J Pharmacol Toxicol. 2008 Jan 1;3(1):72-79. doi: 10.3844/ajptsp.2008.72.79.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.