Potentiation of Procedural Motor Learning in Health and Disease

Sponsor
University Hospital Muenster (Other)
Overall Status
Terminated
CT.gov ID
NCT00126087
Collaborator
(none)
18
1
90.1
0.2

Study Details

Study Description

Brief Summary

The investigators plan to improve the learning of motor skills by pharmacological means (dopamine), and by noninvasive brain stimulation. They will study both healthy subjects and chronic stroke patients. In addition, they want to study the mechanisms of enhanced learning, on the molecular and the systems level.

Condition or Disease Intervention/Treatment Phase
Phase 4

Detailed Description

Adaptive behavior requires procedural motor learning, i.e. the acquisition of motor skills. Procedural learning is particularly critical in the rehabilitation of chronic motor deficits after stroke. A potent modulator of motor function and learning is found in the endogenous dopaminergic system. The investigator's own work could demonstrate that formation of an elementary motor memory, which constitutes the first step in acquiring more complex motor skills, can be enhanced in both healthy subjects and chronic stroke patients by pre-medication with levodopa. The aim of the present proposal is to:

  • expand these exciting findings to procedural motor learning;

  • explore the interaction with age, brain lesions, add-on interventions such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS); and

  • illuminate the underlying mechanisms.

The effect of levodopa +/- tDCS on procedural motor learning and cortical excitability will be studied in healthy volunteers and stroke patients. Then the investigator plans to delineate the underlying mechanisms of this effect by exploring N-methyl-D-asparate (NMDA) receptor-dependency of levodopa-enhanced learning and changes in activation and connectivity (using functional magnetic resonance imaging) in the respective neural networks resulting from the interaction of learning and dopaminergic neuromodulation.

Study Design

Study Type:
Interventional
Actual Enrollment :
18 participants
Allocation:
Randomized
Intervention Model:
Crossover Assignment
Masking:
Double (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Primary Purpose:
Treatment
Official Title:
Potentiation of Procedural Motor Learning by Pharmacological Neuromodulation and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Health and Disease
Study Start Date :
Jul 1, 2005
Actual Primary Completion Date :
Dec 1, 2007
Actual Study Completion Date :
Jan 1, 2013

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

  1. Procedural motor learning (decrease in reaction time in ms) after the respective intervention (dopamine, transcranial direct current stimulation), compared to placebo []

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study:
18 Years to 80 Years
Sexes Eligible for Study:
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Yes
Inclusion Criteria:
Healthy Volunteers:
  • Normal neurological examination

  • Mini Mental State Examination of > 27

  • Right handedness

Stroke Patients:
  • Cortical or subcortical stroke with an initial severe hemiparesis Medical Research Council (MRC) scale < 2 that has recovered to a degree that patients are able to perform the proposed task (in general > MRC 4.5, with low spasticity, work in progress on motor learning in stroke patients)

  • At least 1 year post-stroke

  • Mini Mental State Examination of > 27

  • Right-handedness

Exclusion Criteria:
Healthy Volunteers and Stroke Patients:
  • No antipsychotic, antidepressant drugs, and drugs affecting the dopaminergic system.

Contacts and Locations

Locations

Site City State Country Postal Code
1 University of Münster, Department of Neurology Münster Nordrhein-Westfalen Germany 48129

Sponsors and Collaborators

  • University Hospital Muenster

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Agnes Flöel, MD, University of Münster, Department of Neurology, Germany

Study Documents (Full-Text)

None provided.

More Information

Publications

Responsible Party:
University Hospital Muenster
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT00126087
Other Study ID Numbers:
  • Motor-Neuromod_01
First Posted:
Aug 2, 2005
Last Update Posted:
Jan 21, 2013
Last Verified:
Jan 1, 2013
Keywords provided by University Hospital Muenster
Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Study Results

No Results Posted as of Jan 21, 2013