Effects of Pregnenolone on Perceived Social Isolation

Summary

No studies to date have examined the effects of pregnenolone on hypervigilance for social threat in individuals with perceived social isolation (PSI). We therefore are conducting a double-blind randomized research study combining three validated behavioral paradigms on social threat attention, perception of others, and emotion regulation with high-density electrical neuroimaging to probe the neuro-circuitry of social threat processing in young adults high in perceived social isolation two hours after the oral administration of 175mg pregnenolone (N = 24), 400mg of pregnenolone (N = 24), or placebo (N = 24). Such research has the potential to yield important insights into the neurobehavioral mechanisms of pregnenolone on hypervigilance for social threat and perception of others--- a first key step toward the development of adjunctive pregnenolone therapy in individuals with PSI.

Timeline

Start

2017-05-01

Primary completion

2021-12-21

Completion

2022-12-21

Publications

• Background Cacioppo S, Cacioppo JT. Why may allopregnanolone help alleviate loneliness? Med Hypotheses. 2015 Dec;85(6):947-52. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2015.09.004. Epub 2015 Sep 5.
• Background Cacioppo S, Capitanio JP, Cacioppo JT. Toward a neurology of loneliness. Psychol Bull. 2014 Nov;140(6):1464-504. doi: 10.1037/a0037618. Epub 2014 Sep 15.
• Background Pibiri F, Nelson M, Guidotti A, Costa E, Pinna G. Decreased corticolimbic allopregnanolone expression during social isolation enhances contextual fear: A model relevant for posttraumatic stress disorder. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Apr 8;105(14):5567-72. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0801853105. Epub 2008 Apr 7.
• Background Porcu P, O'Buckley TK, Leslie Morrow A, Adinoff B. Differential hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activation of the neuroactive steroids pregnenolone sulfate and deoxycorticosterone in healthy controls and alcohol-dependent subjects. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008 Feb;33(2):214-26. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2007.11.003. Epub 2007 Dec 21.
• Background Rasmusson AM, Pinna G, Paliwal P, Weisman D, Gottschalk C, Charney D, Krystal J, Guidotti A. Decreased cerebrospinal fluid allopregnanolone levels in women with posttraumatic stress disorder. Biol Psychiatry. 2006 Oct 1;60(7):704-13. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.026. Epub 2006 Aug 24.
• Background Crowley SK, O'Buckley TK, Schiller CE, Stuebe A, Morrow AL, Girdler SS. Blunted neuroactive steroid and HPA axis responses to stress are associated with reduced sleep quality and negative affect in pregnancy: a pilot study. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2016 Apr;233(7):1299-310. doi: 10.1007/s00213-016-4217-x. Epub 2016 Feb 9.
• Background Gross JJ, John OP. Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2003 Aug;85(2):348-62. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.2.348.
• Background Marx CE, Keefe RS, Buchanan RW, Hamer RM, Kilts JD, Bradford DW, Strauss JL, Naylor JC, Payne VM, Lieberman JA, Savitz AJ, Leimone LA, Dunn L, Porcu P, Morrow AL, Shampine LJ. Proof-of-concept trial with the neurosteroid pregnenolone targeting cognitive and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2009 Jul;34(8):1885-903. doi: 10.1038/npp.2009.26. Epub 2009 Apr 1.
• Background Pinna G, Costa E, Guidotti A. Fluoxetine and norfluoxetine stereospecifically and selectively increase brain neurosteroid content at doses that are inactive on 5-HT reuptake. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Jun;186(3):362-72. doi: 10.1007/s00213-005-0213-2. Epub 2006 Jan 24.
• Background van Broekhoven F, Verkes RJ. Neurosteroids in depression: a review. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2003 Jan;165(2):97-110. doi: 10.1007/s00213-002-1257-1. Epub 2002 Nov 6.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.