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RecruitingNCT064123157T FACESUpdated Oct 2, 2026

7T Amygdala and Citalopram Study

An interventional study of Citalopram and Placebo in Emotional Processing, Cognition and Mood Disorders, sponsored by University of Oxford. Recruiting at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 40 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-02.

Sponsored by University of Oxford · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Feb 2025; still recruiting 1 year 7 months later.
Updated Oct 2, 2026Newly registeredGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
54
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 40 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this study is to investigate how a common antidepressant citalopram (which increases the levels of the chemical messenger serotonin), affects how a key area of the brain involved in depression (the amygdala) responds to emotional information.

Healthy participants will undergo medical and psychiatric health screening, after which they will be assigned to receive either a single dose of citalopram (20mg) or placebo, and undergo brain scanning (7T fMRI) whilst viewing emotional faces. Since the scan uses high field strength, the investigators will be able to see effects of citalopram on different subfields within the amygdala which will help to understand how citalopram might be working.

Read the detailed description

Antidepressants typically decrease amygdala response to negative stimuli while enhancing response to positive stimuli, but it is unclear at a mechanistic level how increasing serotonin would have this opposing effect. One hypothesis is that although positive and negative cues activate the same area at a global level, more detailed characterisation may reveal key differences in processing in terms of localisation or response function. Until now, due to methodological restriction, the amygdala has been mostly studied as a single structure. It is however known that it consists of a number of subfields, which are likely to play distinct roles in emotional processing. In this study the investigators will make use of 7T fMRI scanning to study the effects of a single dose (20 mg) of citalopram (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, SSRI) on these subfields during emotional face processing, allowing greater precision to identify underlying neural mechanisms underpinning psychological effects.

02

Conditions studied

  • Emotional Processing
  • Cognition
  • Mood Disorders
  • Depressive Disorder
  • Depression

Keywords

  • Antidepressants
  • Experimental medicine
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Emotional Processing
  • fMRI
  • High field strength fMRI
  • 7 Tesla MRI
03

In context

Mood Disorders

584 studies on the registry are indexed under Mood Disorders; 117 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 54 is below the median of 72 across 429 interventional studies indexed under Mood Disorders.

Browse Mood Disorders studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Oxford is the lead sponsor of 794 studies on the registry; 117 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 40 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the research
  • Sufficiently fluent English to understand and complete the task

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Participants with ferromagnetic objects in their bodies (e.g. metal implants, vessel clips, shrapnel injuries) or with implanted devices which may be damaged by the magnet (e.g. heart pacemakers)
  • Any other MRI contraindication following MRI safety screening
  • History or current significant psychiatric illness (like major depressive disorder)
  • Current or past diagnosis of any significant personality disorder (e.g. borderline personality disorder) according to self-report
  • Diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactive disorder or autistic spectrum disorder that impairs daily functioning, requires pharmacotherapy or in the opinion of the study medic would affect the scientific integrity of the study
  • Currently or within last 3 months taking psychoactive medications (requires further discussion with researcher)
  • Current or within the last 3 months use of medication that might interact with the effects of citalopram or affect the scientific integrity of the study
  • Known contraindication to citalopram including: past allergic reaction to citalopram or any other medicines, diagnosis of a cardiovascular condition, glaucoma, type 1 or type 2 diabetes, diagnosis of epilepsy, previous diagnosis of angle-closure glaucoma, or current use of any other medication whose use interacts with citalopram (according to British National Formulary (BNF) guidance) e.g. associated with prolonged QT-interval
  • Any other current or past medical conditions which in the opinion of the study medic may interfere with the safety of the participant or the scientific integrity of the study including epilepsy/seizures, brain injury, hepatic or renal disease, diabetes, severe gastro-intestinal problems, Central Nervous System (CNS) tumours, neurological conditions
  • Clinically significant abnormal values for urine drug screen, pulse, and blood pressure measurement (in accordance with Best Practice Guidance 13: 'Non-invasive measurement of blood pressure'). A participant with a clinical abnormality or parameters outside the reference range for the population being studied may be included only if the Investigator considers that the finding is unlikely to introduce additional risk factors and will not interfere with the study procedures
  • Current alcohol or substance misuse disorder
  • Body Mass Index under 17 and over 35
  • Pregnant or planning a pregnancy, or breast feeding
  • Previously taken part in a study that used similar computer tasks (MRI faces task, emotional test battery) as those in the present study
  • Participation in a study that involves the use of a psychoactive medication or brain stimulation within the last three months
  • Use of recreational drugs (e.g. cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines) within last three months
  • Smoking > 5 cigarettes per day, or vape a comparable amount (> 0.5ml / a quarter of a 2ml vape);
  • Typically drinks > 6 caffeinated drinks per day (e.g. tea, coffee, coca cola, Red Bull)
  • Participant is unlikely to comply with the clinical study protocol or is unsuitable for any other reason, in the opinion of the Investigator
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
54 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Citalopram

    Drug: Citalopram

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DrugCitalopram

    Participants will receive a single dose (20mg) citalopram. Tablets encapsulated to aid blinding. To take per oral once.

  • DrugPlacebo

    Participants will receive a single dose of placebo (sucrose). Tablets encapsulated to aid blinding. To take per oral once

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Neural measures: fMRI BOLD univariate analysis

    Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI (region of interest (ROI) analysis amygdala) during the performance of an emotional faces task. Differential amygdala response to fearful and happy faces. Univariate analysis

    Time frame: 3 hours after dosing for approximately 1 hour

  2. Neural measures: fMRI BOLD multivariate analysis

    Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI (region of interest (ROI) analysis amygdala) during the performance of an emotional faces task. Amygdala response to fearful and happy faces. Multivariate pattern analysis.

    Time frame: 3 hours after dosing for approximately 1 hour

Secondary outcomes

  1. Behavioural measures: Accuracy during gender discrimination task

    Accuracy (% correct) of gender identification will be measured to ensure participant engagement throughout the task.

    Time frame: 3 hours after dosing for approximately 1hour

  2. Behavioural measures: Reaction times during gender discrimination task

    Reaction times (ms) of gender identification will be measured to ensure participant engagement throughout the task.

    Time frame: 3 hours after dosing for approximately 1hour

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry
    Oxford, Oxfordshire OX37JX, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
08

Updates

1 registry update since Sep 25, 2026
Registered
First appeared on the registry. No changes since
Oct 2, 2026
Show all 1 update
  1. Oct 2, 2026
    First appeared on the registry

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT06412315
Lead sponsor
University of Oxford
Responsible party
Catherine Harmer (Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Oxford) — Principal investigator
First posted
May 14, 2024
Start date
Feb 13, 2025
Primary completion
Apr 30, 2027 (estimated)
Completion
Apr 30, 2027 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 2, 2026

Study contacts

Marieke AG Martens, DPhil
Contact
marieke.martens@psych.ox.ac.uk
+441865 618338
Catherine J Harmer, DPhil
Contact
catherine.harmer@psych.ox.ac.uk
+441865 618326

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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