Dopaminergic Enhancement of Learning and Memory in Healthy Adults and Patients With Dyslexia
Study Details
Study Description
Brief Summary
This study aims to determine whether levodopa, in combination with a high frequency training of (grammatical) rules, is effective in boosting learning success in healthy subjects and whether this kind of training in combination with levodopa improves reading and spelling abilities of patients with dyslexia.
| Condition or Disease | Intervention/Treatment | Phase |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 4 |
Detailed Description
Prior work by our group shows that d-amphetamine and the dopamine precursor levodopa markedly improve word learning success in healthy subjects. In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, we probe whether daily administration of levodopa, coupled with a training of grammatical rules, improves the training success in healthy adults as compared to placebo administration. In the second step of this study, patients with dyslexia will be trained with the identical protocol. We postulate that the combination of intensive training in language rules and levodopa improves the reading, writing, and spelling abilities of patients with dyslexia.
Study Design
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcome Measures
- Boost in training success (percent correct) through levodopa as compared to placebo []
- Boost in training success (reaction times) through levodopa as compared to placebo []
- Increased performance on reading, spelling and writing tests in dyslexic patients treated with levodopa as compared to placebo []
Secondary Outcome Measures
- Stability of improvements one month post training []
Eligibility Criteria
Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
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Right-handedness
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Age between 18-35 years
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Primary language: German
Exclusion Criteria:
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Known allergy to levodopa or tetrazine
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History of medication/drug abuse
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Acute nicotine withdrawal or > 10 cigarettes per day
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6 cups/glasses of coffee, caffeine drinks or energy drinks per day
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50 grams of alcohol per day
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Hypertonia
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Arteriosclerosis
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Diabetes, asthma, or glaucoma
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Psychiatric disease
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Neurologic disease
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Other medication
Contacts and Locations
Locations
| Site | City | State | Country | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dept. of Neurology, University Hospital of Muenster | Muenster | North-Rhine Westphalia | Germany | 48129 |
Sponsors and Collaborators
- University Hospital Muenster
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Stefan Knecht, Prof. Dr., Dept. of Neurology, Universityclinic of Muenster
Study Documents (Full-Text)
None provided.More Information
Publications
- Breitenstein C, Knecht S. [Language acquisition and statistical learning]. Nervenarzt. 2003 Feb;74(2):133-43. Review. German.
- Knecht S, Breitenstein C, Bushuven S, Wailke S, Kamping S, Flöel A, Zwitserlood P, Ringelstein EB. Levodopa: faster and better word learning in normal humans. Ann Neurol. 2004 Jul;56(1):20-6.
- Opitz B, Friederici AD. Brain correlates of language learning: the neuronal dissociation of rule-based versus similarity-based learning. J Neurosci. 2004 Sep 29;24(39):8436-40.
- LL-001; Project on Dyslexia