Exercise Facilitation of Adolescent Fear Extinction, Frontolimbic Circuitry, and Endocannabinoids

Conditions

• Adolescence

Eligibility Criteria

Sex

ALL

Age

14 Years - 17 Years

Healthy Volunteers

Accepted

Interventions

• Moderate Intensity Exercise — BEHAVIORAL
  Participants randomized to the active (moderate intensity) exercise condition will complete a 3-minute warm-up at low speed on a treadmill. Speed and incline will be increased in 3-minute increments until moderate-intensity exercise, defined as participants staying within a zone of 60-80% AAMHR with the target being to attain and maintain 70-75% AAMHR while briskly walking and/or jogging depending on current fitness status, is reached for a total of 30 min.

Study Details

Anxiety disorders commonly begin during adolescence, and are characterized by deficits in the ability to inhibit or extinguish pathological fear. Recent research has provided new understanding of how fear is learned and can be regulated in the adolescent brain, and how the endocannabinoid system shapes these processes; however, these advances have not yet translated into improved therapeutic outcomes for adolescents with anxiety. This study will test whether a behavioral intervention, acute exercise, can help to improve fear regulation by enhancing brain activity and endocannabinoid signaling. This line of research may ultimately lead to more effect treatments for adolescent anxiety, and to new preventive strategies for at-risk youth.

Key Dates

Start date

May 17, 2024

Status verified

Aug 2025

Primary completion

Apr 30, 2028

Completion

Apr 30, 2028

Study Design

Enrollment

174 participants (estimated)

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Arms

• Experimental: Moderate Intensity Exercise
• No Intervention: Control (Coloring)

Primary Outcome Measure

Skin Conductance Responding (SCR) [ Time Frame: Throughout study completion (3 days) ]

Locations (1)

Find similar trials in Detroit, MI

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