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| ID | Type | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| P50DA046346 | U.S. NIH Grant/Contract | View source |
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| Name | Class |
|---|---|
| National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) | NIH |
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Adolescence is a time of heightened reward sensitivity and greater impulsivity. On top of this, many teenagers experience chronic sleep deprivation and misalignment of their circadian rhythms due to biological shifts in their sleep/wake patterns paired with early school start times, which may increase the risk for substance use (SU). However, what impact circadian rhythm and sleep disruption either together or independently have on the neuronal circuitry that controls reward and cognition, or if there are interventions that might help to modify these disruptions is unknown. Project 1 (P1), specifically examines homeostatic and circadian characteristics as mechanisms linking habitual sleep patterns, reward and cognitive control (at subjective, behavioral, and circuit levels), and longitudinal substance use risk.
P1 will study 200 adolescents ages 13-18 in a 48-h to 60-h laboratory study. Participants will monitor sleep patterns at home for 2 weeks with actigraphy and sleep diary, and will also complete fMRI measures of reward and cognitive control. This will be followed by a 48-to-60-hour laboratory visit. The laboratory session includes two nights of polysomnography (PSG) sleep studies (the second night of PSG was halted for all participants as of January 2026), separated by 28 h of an ultradian sleep/wake protocol-every 120-minutes, there will be an 80-minute period of waking, followed by a 40-minute sleep opportunity. (Prior to January 2026, participants had a 36-h ultradian sleep/wake protocol, which was then shortened to 28 hours). Participants will be in dim light conditions and temporal isolation for the first 28 h of the ultradian sleep/wake protocol. Physiological circadian measures include salivary melatonin; core body temperature (CBT); and molecular rhythms from hair follicle cells (examined in Project 3). Physiological sleep homeostatic measures include waking EEG theta power, slow-wave sleep rebound following the ultradian sleep/wake protocol (for participants enrolled prior to January 2026), and repeated sleep latency on the sleep opportunities. Behavioral tests (Reward Anti-Saccade task to index cognitive control with/without reward modulation; Psychomotor Vigilance Test) and self-reports of mood/sleepiness will be collected every 2 h. Longitudinal on-line surveys will assess substance use every 6 months for the life of the grant.
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| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultradian Sleep/Wake protocol | Experimental | This study uses an ultradian sleep/wake protocol to examine circadian and homeostatic sleep systems and their contributions to reward and cognitive control function. All participants will undergo the ultradian sleep/wake protocol following a night of sleep in the lab (measured with polysomnography). The ultradian sleep/wake protocol will last for 28-36 h, during which every 120-minutes, there will be an 80-minute period of waking, followed by a 40-minute sleep opportunity. Prior to 2026, a repeat night of sleep will occur at the end of the 36-hour ultradian sleep/wake protocol. As of 2026, the repeat sleep study is no longer being conducted, and the ultradian protocol was shortened to 28 hours. |
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| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultradian sleep/wake protocol | Behavioral | 120-minute schedule, consisting of 80 minutes awake followed by a 40 minute sleep opportunity for up to 36 hours |
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| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Change in EEG delta power across overnight polysomnography on the night preceding vs. following the 36-hour ultradian sleep/wake protocol. | Change in the slope of EEG delta power (0.5 - 4 Hz) across NREM periods (frontal leads) on the night preceding vs. following the 36-h ultradian sleep/wake protocol (as measured by polysomnography). This procedure is no longer being collected as of January 2026. | The first night of sleep preceding the 36-hour ultradian sleep/wake protocol vs the night of sleep following the ultradian sleep/wake protocol |
| Change in slope of waking EEG theta power | Assessed every 2 hours across the ultradian sleep/wake protocol | Every 2 hours during the ultradian sleep/wake protocol, up two 36 hours |
| Melatonin onset | Endogenous circadian phase estimate of the rise in evening melatonin levels from saliva samples collected over the ultradian protocol (every 30 - 60 minutes) under dim light conditions. | The first 28-hours of the ultradian sleep/wake protocol |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Circadian pattern of Core Body Temperature (CBT) | Minimum of CBT | Measured continuously across the ultradian sleep/wake protocol, up two 36 hours. |
| Melatonin amplitude | Amplitude of the 24-hour melatonin period to estimate endogenous circadian phase |
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Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
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| Name | Role | Phone | Extension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ronette Blake, MS | Contact | (412) 443-3704 | blakerg2@upmc.edu | |
| Sarah Aerni | Contact | 412-551-110 | aernise2@upmc.edu |
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Peter L. Franzen, PhD | University of Pittsburgh | Principal Investigator |
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Psychiatric Hospital | Recruiting | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | 15213 | United States |
Current and future investigators, both internal and external, may have access to de-identified data; however only group data would be shared.
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| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D019966 | Substance-Related Disorders |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D064419 | Chemically-Induced Disorders |
| D001523 | Mental Disorders |
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| Collected every 30-60 minutes across the ultradian sleep/wake protocol, up two 36 hours |
| Sleep latency | Time until sleep onset (first 30-second epoch of N2 sleep) as assessed by polysomnography | During the 40-minute sleep opportunities collected every two hours across the ultradian sleep/wake protocol, up two 36 hours |
| Influence of sleep and circadian measures on neural correlates of impulse control | This outcome will be measured during the Stop Signal Task, which is a computerized an fMRI behavioral task. It will be assessed by activation within the Executive Control Network, specifically, activation is defined as bold signal in regions of the Executive Control Network (particularly the inferior frontal gyrus) on correct Stop trials versus correct Go trials. | Measures from the ultradian sleep/wake protocol in relation to an fMRI scan measured 1 to 2 weeks earlier. |
| Influence of sleep and circadian measures on neural correlates of reward anticipation and reward outcome. | This outcome will be measured during the Money Incentive Delay Task, which is a computerized an fMRI behavioral task. It will be assessed by activation within the reward network, specifically, activation is defined as bold signals in regions of the reward network (particularly the ventral striatum) on reward anticipation trials versus no money trials. | 1 to 2 weeks before to immediately after the ultradian sleep/wake protocol. |
| Performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task | This outcome will be measured during the Psychomotor Vigilance Task, specifically lapses (reaction times > 500 ms) on this sustained attention task. | Collected every 2 hours during the ultradian sleep/wake protocol, up two 36 hours. |
| Performance on the Reward Anti-Saccade task | This outcome will be measured during the Reward Anti-Saccade task, which measures the ability to look away from a target (an anti-saccade). | Collected every two hours during the ultradian sleep/wake protocol, up two 36 hours. |
| Substance use | Frequency-based self-reports of substance use. | Every 6 months for the duration of the study, up to 4.5 years |