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Cerebellar Involvement in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD)

Johns Hopkins University · with National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) · NCT05732207

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Opens the official ClinicalTrials.gov record, with the study team’s contacts. Bored Studies doesn’t enroll anyone.

Key facts

Compensation
Not posted. Ask the study team before screening.
Who can join
Ages 25–55 · All sexes
Healthy volunteers
Accepted
Study type
Interventional · Not applicable
Target enrollment
122
US sites recruiting
1
Study start
October 12, 2023
Record last updated
May 11, 2026

Status re-checked against ClinicalTrials.gov within the last 12 hours.

What the study is about

The goal of this observational and interventional study is to better understand the involvement of the cerebellum in the brain reward system in persons with alcohol use disorder (AUD). The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • What is the nature of cerebellar input to the ventral tegmental area (VTA) in the brain reward system, and how is it perturbed in AUD?
  • What is the relationship between measures of cerebellar integrity and magnitude of reward activation to alcohol-related cues in cerebellar, VTA and other brain reward structures?
  • What is the therapeutic potential of cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for modulating alcohol cue reactivity, associated alcohol craving, and cerebellar - VTA functional connectivity in the brain reward system? Persons with AUD will be compared with healthy control participants.

Being studied: cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation

Conditions: Alcohol Use Disorder

Eligibility criteria

Copied from the official record. The study team makes the final decision at screening.

Show full criteria

Inclusion Criteria

  • completed at least 8 years of education

Exclusion Criteria

  • Estimated Intelligence Quotient (IQ) \< 90
  • less than 5th grade reading level
  • Left handed
  • Non-fluent in English
  • current drug use disorder other than alcohol (except nicotine and caffeine) and or recent drug use in the last 90 days
  • Positive breath alcohol level at time of MRI scan or discrepancies between alcohol biomarker and self-report that cannot be resolved
  • Exhibiting symptoms of alcohol withdrawal on visit 1 assessment
  • Significant current psychiatric distress and or treatment
  • History of any central nervous system disorder, presence of a seizure disorder, or use of anticonvulsant medication in the past 3 months
  • any serious medical condition detected on assessment or by medical record review; or have liver function tests more than three times normal at screening
  • History of metal implantation that would preclude MRI scanning; or other implants, pumps, pacemakers that would be contraindications for MRI scanning
  • Abnormal MRI scan or history of significant closed head trauma
  • Evidence of dementia
  • For women, pregnancy

Recruiting US locations

  • Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

    Baltimore, MD 21205

    Site contact: John Desmond, Ph.D.

Study contacts (from the official record)

  • John E Desmond, PhD · 410-502-3583 · jdesmon2@jhmi.edu
  • JoAnna Mathena
All healthy volunteers studies in Maryland →
Cerebellar Involvement in Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) (NCT05732207) | Bored Studies