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Study identifier: NCT02994433 Synced from ClinicalTrials.gov · July 28, 2026
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NMDA Receptor Antagonist Nitrous Oxide Targets Affective Brain Circuits

Condition: Depressive Disorder, Major · Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant  ·  Sponsor: Washington University School of Medicine

PhasePhase 1
Planned participants60
Who can joinAll sexes, 18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteersYes

About this study

Most clinical major depression responds to standard treatments (medication and psychotherapy); however, a significant subset of depressed patients (15-20%) do not respond to these treatments and are referred to as treatment-resistant major depression (TRMD). New treatments for TRMD are needed, and one promising line of research are drugs known as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonists. In a recent pilot study, our group demonstrated that the NMDA antagonist nitrous oxide is effective in TRMD. This application proposes to take the next important step in understanding how nitrous oxide exerts its effects in the human brain by using state-of-the-art brain neuroimaging (functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging) in a group of non-depressed, healthy volunteers and comparing the results to a group of TRMD patients. This study involves exposing approximately 25 non-depressed healthy participants and 25 TRMD participants to nitrous oxide and a placebo gas, to compare their brain images before and after each of the inhalation sessions. Sessions will be separated by at least one month to prevent treatment effects from carrying over into the following session. All willing and eligible subjects will undergo up to six functional connectivity MRI scans, and two inhalation sessions. Functional imaging in the brain will allow us to trace the interconnections between various parts of the brain, including those involved with emotion and depression. Other procedur…

This description comes directly from the study's public registry record.

Talk to the study team

Britt Gott, MS  ·  314-362-2463  ·  gottb@wustl.edu

Anvita Vishwanath, BS  ·  314-273-1921  ·  a.vishwanath@wustl.edu

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Locations (1)

Washington University School of MedicineSt Louis, Missouri, United StatesRecruiting

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Source record: clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02994433