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Understanding How Naltrexone Affects Social Experiences

This study aims to understand how the medication naltrexone affects how people experience social situations and how their brain responds. We are looking for healthy individuals aged 18 to 25. Participants will take either naltrexone or a placebo (a sugar pill) once a day for 7 days. We will measure your daily feelings of social connection and mood. On the last day, you will have an MRI scan to see how your brain reacts to social tasks. The study is currently unclear on its recruitment status and plans to enroll 210 participants. Success would mean understanding how naltrexone impacts social feelings and brain activity.

Study design
This is a randomized, placebo-controlled study, meaning participants will be randomly assigned to receive either naltrexone or a placebo. It plans to enroll 210 participants.
What's involved
You will take a pill once a day for 7 days and complete daily reports on your feelings. On day 7, you will visit a facility for an MRI scan and complete tasks.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Your daily feelings will be measured across 7 days, and brain activity and feelings in response to tasks will be measured on Day 7.

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

NCT05007561

Understanding How Opioids Affect the Experiential and Neural Signatures of Social Experiences

Completed
EARLY_PHASE1Ages 18–25InterventionalBasic science
San Diego State University
~217 participants
Updated 2026-09-10 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Naltrexone HydrochloridePlacebo

At a glance

Recruiting sites
0 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Daily feelings of social connection via ecological momentary assessment
Measured over post-treatment, change across 7 days
+2 more outcomes measured

Conditions

Naltrexone
Placebo

Explore related trials

Healthy Volunteers

NCT05007561

Where you'd take part

This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.

  • San Diego State University

    San Diego, Californiano site contact published

Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.

Study leadership

  • Tristen Inagaki, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · San Diego State University

Who to contact

This trial hasn't published a contact. View it on ClinicalTrials.gov

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

good health
English fluency
willing to provide contact information for 4-6 close others
willing to provide digital photographs of 2 close others
own a smartphone

Exclusion

presence of medical devices, implants, or other metal objects in or on the body that cannot be removed
tattooed eyeliner
a body habitus prohibiting MRI scanning
claustrophobia
self-reported chronic mental or physical illness
current and regular use of prescription medication
previous history of having difficulty taking pills
current use of opioid analgesics
depressive symptoms above a 9 on Patient Health Questionnaire
excessive alcohol use
positive urine drug test
body mass index (BMI) greater than 35
pregnancy or plans to become pregnant in next 6 months
positive urine pregnancy test

What this trial measures

  • Daily feelings of social connection via ecological momentary assessmentpost-treatment, change across 7 days

    State feelings of social connection outside of the lab

  • Bold Oxygen-level Dependent (BOLD) Activations in Prespecified ROIsDay 7, approximately 60 mins after taking study drug

    In the MRI scanner, participants read sentences written by people they know and people they do not know in a block design. In a second task they view images of people they know, those they do not know, and other emotional images. Brain activity will be measured as BOLD activity in response to stimuli from known (vs. unknown) people using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). Based on a priori hypotheses, brain activity will be masked to activity in structural regions-of- interest (ROIs) of the ventral striatum (VS), middle-insula (MI), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC).

  • feelings in response to neuroimaging tasksDay 7, approximately 150 minutes after taking study drug

    Feelings of social connection and general positive affect in response to the neuroimaging tasks will be reported on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 7 (very)