Amelie Haugg

2 papers in the library · 1 citation · publishing 2025

Papers

Co-Boost: boosting and guiding neuroplasticity by combining ketamine with neurofeedback-assisted learning—towards an individualised and integrated pharmaco-psychotherapy for cocaine addiction: study protocol for a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group, single-centre trial

Trials September 25, 2025 Anna Trippel, Ladina P Gubser, Etna Engeli et al. 1 citation

Cocaine is the most frequently used stimulant worldwide, with increasing consumption in Europe. Psychotherapeutic interventions for cocaine use disorder (CUD) show only modest effects, and no pharmacotherapy has been approved. A novel target, glutamatergic neurotransmission, emerged from animal models: after chronic cocaine, glutamate concentrations in the nucleus accumbens are reduced, with overflow during cue-induced cocaine-seeking. This imbalance has also been observed in humans. Neurofeedback training (NFT) studies using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) show participants with CUD can learn to regulate brain activity in reward areas using reward imagery.

DOI: 10.1186/s13063-025-08982-9 Ketamine Neuroplasticity Boosting machine learning Protocol science +6

Co-Boost: Boosting and guiding neuroplasticity by combining ketamine with neurofeedback-assisted learning – towards an individualised and integrated pharmaco-psychotherapy for cocaine addiction: study protocol for a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group, single-centre trial

Anna Stefania Trippel, Ladina Philomena Gubser, Etna Jennifer Elektra Engeli et al.

A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial will test a single ketamine infusion, three sessions of reward-imagery real-time fMRI neurofeedback training, and their combination in 120 people with cocaine use disorder. The study expects both interventions to reduce the proportion of cocaine use days, with ketamine increasing glutamate in the reward system and lowering craving, and neurofeedback re-sensitizing participants to natural rewards. This neurobiologically informed approach aims to open new treatment avenues through individualized pharmaco-psychotherapy.

DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5677691/v1