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DystoniaNCT00102999

Brain Function in Focal Dystonia

An observational study of Dystonia, run by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Objectives The main objectives of this proposal are (1) to characterize motor learning abnormalities in patients with focal dystonia; (2) to show, using transcranial magnetic stimulation, that this abnormal motor learning went together with an impaired modulation by somatosensory inputs of short and long-interval… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 years and olderHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Dystonia
How many people
118 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
31 Jan 2005to 22 Jan 2009
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 years and older
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Healthy volunteers (aged 18 or older) who are willing to participate.
  • Patients (aged 18 and older) with an idiopathic upper limb dystonia, who are able to practice the motor learning task.

Who cannot join

  • Subjects with a history of neurological or psychiatric disorder, current use or a history of alcohol or drug abuse, psychiatric disorders requiring hospitalization or prolonged treatment such as substance abuser addiction, head injury with loss of consciousness, epilepsy.
  • Subjects with significant hearing loss.
  • Subjects receiving drugs acting primarily on the central nervous system.
  • Subjects who have been treated with botulinum toxin injections 3 months prior to their participation in the study.
  • Subjects who are taking any medication for dystonia at the time of the study.
  • Subjects who have already participated in a protocol using a motor learning task.
Show all 14Show fewer
  • Subjects who practice intensively playing any kind of music instrument.
  • The following exclusion criteria are due to the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation:
  • Subjects with cardiac pacemakers, intracardiac lines, implanted medication pumps.
  • Subjects with eye, blood vessel, cochlear, or eye implants.
  • Subjects with increased intracranial pressure as evaluated by clinical means.
  • Subjects with metal in the cranium.
  • Subjects with dental braces (but dental fillings are not a problem), metal fragments from occupational exposure or surgical clips in or near the brain.
  • Women in the last trimester of pregnancy will not be studied because they will likely be uncomfortable maintaining a motionless seated posture during the three hour experiment.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

    Bethesda, Maryland, 20892

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Impaired Motor Learning and LTP/LTD-like Plasticity in Dystonia, Are Associated With Abnormal Modulation of Cortical Excitability by Somatosensory Volleys

Objectives

The main objectives of this proposal are (1) to characterize motor learning abnormalities in patients with focal dystonia; (2) to show, using transcranial magnetic stimulation, that this abnormal motor learning went together with an impaired modulation by somatosensory inputs of short and long-interval paired-pulse inhibitions (sICI, lICI) and facilitations (sICF, ICF) of MEPs (ICIs and ICFs are thought to reflect activity of inhibitory and excitatory interneuron's in the primary motor cortex M1); (3) to show that abnormalities of long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTP/LTD)-like mechanisms (tested using a paired associative stimulation (PAS) intervention), thought to play a crucial role in learning, are associated in dystonia with an abnormal modulation of ICIs and ICFs by somatosensory inputs.

Read more

Study population

30 patients with a focal upper limb dystonia and 45 healthy volunteers will take part in the main study. 7 patients with a focal upper limb dystonia and 12 healthy volunteers will take part in the control study.

Design

In the main study: subjects will complete 5 different sessions: visit 1: clinical screening, 1 hour; visit PAS session, 3 hours; visit 3: a minimum of 7 days later, motor learning session, 3 hours; visit 4: follow-up 24 hours later, 1 hour and a half; visit 5, follow-up 48 hours later, 1 hour and a half. During the PAS session they will receive 15 minutes of repeated paired stimulations (transcranial magnetic stimulation -TMS- and peripheral stimulation) thought to produce LTP/LTD like phenomena in M1. During the motor learning sessions they will be asked to perform, as fast as possible, a metronome-paced (0.5 Hz) pinch of their index finger and thumb. They will have 3 blocks of motor practice during the motor learning session.

Between each block of motor practice and before and after PAS, while they rest, subjects will receive paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) associated or not with peripheral nerve stimulation in order to assess interactions at M1 cortical level between somatosensory incoming volleys and intracortical inhibitory and excitatory interneuron's.

In the control study: subjects will complete a unique session. They will receive a PAS intervention. Before and after the PAS intervention, spinal excitability will be tested by the means of H reflexes evoked in wrist flexor muscles.

Outcome measures:

The behavioral effect of the motor training or of the PAS intervention will be assessed by measuring the mean peak acceleration (MPA) of thumb movement during the blocks of motor practice and the mean maximal peak force (MPF) between the index finger and thumb before and after the blocks of motor practice.

The activity of different sets of intracortical interneurons (short and long interval GABA related inhibitions: sICI, lICI, intracortical glutamate-related facilitation: ICF and short interval facilitation: sICF) can be tested using paired-pulse TMS paradigms. The effect of learning (or of PAS intervention) on the interaction between somatosensory afferent input and intracortical processes will be assessed by comparing the amount of sICI, lICI, ICF and sICF when associated or not with a peripheral nerve stimulation (median and ulnar nerve stimulation) in a trained muscle (flexor pollicis brevis: FPB) and a non-trained muscle (abductor digiti minimi: ADM) at different times during and after the motor learning or the PAS intervention.

The effect of PAS on spinal cord excitability will be assessed by comparing the size of the H reflex before and after PAS.

Read the detailed description

OBJECTIVES:

The main objectives of this proposal are (1) to characterize motor learning abnormalities in patients with focal dystonia; (2) to show, using transcranial magnetic stimulation, that this abnormal motor learning went together with an impaired modulation by somatosensory inputs of short and long-interval paired-pulse inhibitions (sICI, lICI) and facilitations (sICF, ICF) of MEPs (ICIs and ICFs are thought to reflect activity of inhibitory and excitatory interneurons in the primary motor cortex M1); (3) to show that abnormalities of long-term potentiation and long-term depression (LTP/LTD)-like mechanisms (tested using a paired associative stimulation (PAS) intervention), thought to play a crucial role in learning, are associated in dystonia with an abnormal modulation of ICIs and ICFs by somatosensory inputs.

STUDY POPULATION:

30 patients with a focal upper limb dystonia and 45 healthy volunteers will take part in the main study.

19 patients with a focal upper limb dystonia and 24 healthy volunteers will take part in the control study.

DESIGN:

In the main study: subjects will complete 5 different sessions: visit 1: clinical screening, 1 hour; visit 2: PAS session, 3 hours; visit 3: a minimum of 7 days later, motor learning session, 3 hours; visit 4: follow-up 24 hours later, 1hour and half; visit 5, follow-up 48 hours later, 1 hour and half. During the PAS session they will receive 15 minutes of repeated paired stimulations (transcranial magnetic stimulation -TMS- and peripheral stimulation) thought to produce LTP/LTD like phenomena in M1. During the motor learning sessions, they will be asked to perform, as fast as possible, a metronome-paced (0.5 Hz) pinch of their index finger and thumb. They will have 3 blocks of motor practice during the motor learning session.

Between each block of motor practice and before and after PAS, while they rest, subjects will receive paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) associated or not with peripheral nerve stimulation in order to assess interactions at M1 cortical level between somatosensory incoming volleys and intracortical inhibitory and excitatory interneurons.

In the control studies: subjects will complete a maximum of eight sessions. They will receive a PAS intervention. Before and after the PAS intervention, spinal excitability will be tested by the means of H reflexes evoked in wrist flexors muscles; H reflexes will be delivered alone or will be conditioned by cubital or radial nerve stimulation.

OUTCOME MEASURES:

The behavioral effect of the motor training or of the PAS intervention will be assessed by measuring the mean peak acceleration (MPA) of thumb movement during the blocks of motor practice and the mean maximal peak force (MPF) between the index finger and thumb before and after the blocks of motor practice.

The activity of different sets of intracortical interneurons (short and long interval GABA related inhibitions: sICI, lICI, intracortical glutamate-related facilitation: ICF and short interval facilitation: sICF) can be tested using paired-pulse TMS paradigms. The effect of learning (or of PAS intervention) on the interaction between somatosensory afferent input and intracortical processes will be assessed by comparing the amount of sICI, lICI, ICF and sICF when associated or not with a peripheral nerve stimulation (median and ulnar nerve stimulation) in a trained muscle (flexor pollicis brevis: FPB) and a non-trained muscle (abductor digiti minimi: ADM) at different times during and after the motor learning or the PAS intervention.

The effect of PAS on spinal cord excitability will be assessed by comparing the size of the H reflex alone, the amounts of postactivation depression and those of presynaptic inhibition before and after PAS.

Conditions
Dystonia
Keywords
Learning, PAS, Upper Limb, TMS, Somatosensory, Dystonia, Upper Limb Dystonia, Healthy Volunteer, HV
Medical subject headings
Dystonia

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted7 Feb 2005 (estimated)
  2. Study start31 Jan 2005
  3. Study completion22 Jan 2009

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Enrolment
118 participants
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00102999
Sponsor's protocol ID
050094
Other IDs
05-N-0094
Status last verified
22 Jan 2009
First submitted
4 Feb 2005
Last updated
2 Jul 2017
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Burke RE, Fahn S, Marsden CD, Bressman SB, Moskowitz C, Friedman J. Validity and reliability of a rating scale for the primary torsion dystonias. Neurology. 1985 Jan;35(1):73-7. doi: 10.1212/wnl.35.1.73.

    PubMed 3966004
  • Abbruzzese G, Marchese R, Buccolieri A, Gasparetto B, Trompetto C. Abnormalities of sensorimotor integration in focal dystonia: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Brain. 2001 Mar;124(Pt 3):537-45. doi: 10.1093/brain/124.3.537.

    PubMed 11222454
  • Bara-Jimenez W, Catalan MJ, Hallett M, Gerloff C. Abnormal somatosensory homunculus in dystonia of the hand. Ann Neurol. 1998 Nov;44(5):828-31. doi: 10.1002/ana.410440520.

    PubMed 9818942

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Dystonia, run by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 2 inclusion and 14 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 2 Jul 2017. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00102999, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 2 Jul 2017.

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