Losartan and Social Processing

Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseEarly Phase 1
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-50
SponsorUniversity of Oxford

About this trial

This study explores the effects of single-dose losartan (50mg) versus placebo on social processing in healthy volunteers.

Eligibility criteria

This trial accepts healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

Willing and able to provide informed consent

Aged 18-50 years

Sufficient written and spoken English skills to understand what the study involves, and to complete the questionnaires

Non- or light-smoker (5 cigarettes a day, if vaping: less than 50 puffs)

Disqualifiers

Current DSM-5 axis-I diagnosis (based on SCID results at screening) or history of a severe psychological disorder such as psychotic disorder, bipolar disorder, alcohol or substance abuse, or post-traumatic stress disorder

First-degree family member with severe psychiatric illness (including psychosis, bipolar disorder, unipolar psychotic depression).

CNS-medication last 6 weeks (including as part of another study)

Current blood pressure or other heart medication, including aliskiren and beta blockers)

Trial design

Design model

Parallel

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Losartan potassium 50mg

    Drug

    Single dose losartan (50 mg), encapsulated identically to placebo.

  • Placebo

    Other intervention

    Single tablet encapsulated identically to placebo.

Treatment groups

68 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups
Group A: LosartanExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: PlaceboPlacebo comparator 1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

AAT effect score

mean reaction time of the pull trials of a valence category subtracted from the push trials of the same category, yielding a single indicator of approach/avoidance, with positive scores indicating relatively stronger approach and negative scores indicating relatively stronger avoidance

Time frame
1 hour after capsule intake

Secondary outcomes

1

Sensitivity to Social Rejection

a) feelings of belonging, control, self-esteem, meaningful existence (on a scale from 1 to 5, with some items reverse coded) as measured on the reflexive and reflective needs-threat scale following Cyberball.

Time frame
1 hour after capsule intake
2

Social Learning

Social learning rate (early round versus late round investment decisions by generosity condition)

Time frame
1 hour after capsule intake
3

Interpretation Inflexibility

Within-person revision of biased interpretations: calculated by taking the average of differences between bias scores between stage 3/2 and 2/1. These two differences will be squared before averaging to reflect absolute change (i.e., in either direction), then the square root of the resulting average will be taken. Higher values mean more flexibility in revising prior interpretations.

Time frame
1 hour after capsule intake

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

University of Oxford

Lead sponsor

National Institute for Health Research, United Kingdom

Collaborator