---
title: Map brain chemistry affecting thinking
nct_id: NCT07569120
phase: NA
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT07569120"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07569120"
last_fetched: "2026-07-10T14:00:16.947Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Map brain chemistry affecting thinking

**Goal (in five words):** Map brain chemistry affecting thinking

**Official Title:** Diving Into the in Vivo Noradrenergic System : Role of the alpha2C-adrenergic Receptors

**Trial ID:** [NCT07569120](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07569120)

## Key Facts

- **Phase:** NA
- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Sponsor:** Hospices Civils de Lyon
- **Target Enrollment:** 165 participants
- **Start Date:** 2026-06-29
- **Completion Date:** 2029-09
- **Conditions:** Healthy Aging and Parkinson's Disease
- **Interventions:** PET/MRI scanning session, Neuropsychological examination, Olfactory screening
- **Intervention Types:** OTHER, BEHAVIORAL

## Summary For Families

The goal is to map how the brain's noradrenergic system works in normal aging and in Parkinson's disease, doing for the first time in people a broader look at a specific receptor. The approach uses a combined positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scan with a newly developed imaging tracer that highlights a specific noradrenergic receptor called alpha2C, plus short tests of thinking, movement, and sense of smell to see how imaging matches behavior. The study is enrolling healthy adults aged 20 to 80 and people with idiopathic, levodopa-responsive Parkinson's aged 40 to 80, generally weighing 40 to 100 kilograms. People who cannot have MRI scans, who recently took medications that affect the brain, who have recent substance dependence, who are pregnant, or who had a study with radiation within the past year are not eligible.

## What This Actually Involves

**Placebo** _(From the protocol)_: There is no placebo group. Everyone receives an active treatment; the study compares one treatment against another.

**Visits** _(Ask the coordinator)_: Ask the coordinator how many in-person visits the study involves, how long each one takes, and over what total period.

**Procedures** _(From the protocol)_:
- PET scan (Minimally invasive)
  > "The main goal of this research proposal is to provide, for the first time in humans, a wider understanding of the role of the noradrenergic system both in health and illness (here Parkinson's disease) through the use of a newly developed radiotracer visualizing alpha2C-ARs…"
- MRI scan (Non-invasive)
  > "PET/MRI scanning session"
- Thinking & memory tests (Non-invasive)
  > "Neuropsychological examination"

**Washout** _(Ask the coordinator)_: Ask the coordinator whether you would need to stop or pause any of your current medications before or during the study (a washout period), and for how long.

**Travel & reimbursement** _(Ask the coordinator)_: Ask the coordinator whether travel, parking, or your time is reimbursed or compensated, and what is covered.

_Fields marked “From the protocol” come from the trial's registry record or quoted protocol text. Fields marked “Ask the coordinator” are not reliably available and should be confirmed directly._

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 20 Years
- **Maximum age:** 80 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Inclusion Criteria for the healthy controls:

* Age between 20 years and 80 years
* Weight between 40kg and 100kg
* Without neurologic or psychiatric history
* Without head trauma history including loss of consciousness superior to 30 minutes.
* With highly effective contraception for women of childbearing age
* Affiliated to a social security or similar scheme
* Not subject to any legal protection measures
* Participant must have signed an informed consent document

Inclusion Criteria for the patients with Parkinson's disease:

* Age between 40 years and 80 years
* Weight between 40kg and 100kg
* With an idiopathic Parkinson's disease (Dopa-sensitive)
* Without head trauma history including loss of consciousness superior to 30 minutes.
* Without associated neurological pathology
* With highly effective contraception for women of childbearing age
* Affiliated to a social security or similar scheme
* Not subject to any legal protection measures
* Participant must have signed an informed consent document

Exclusion Criteria for all participants :

* Subject receiving (or having received in the last month) somatic medication with cerebral or psychological effects (e.g., antihistamines), see list in Appendix1
* Subjects with a current or past dependence on alcohol or any other addictive substance according to DSM-IV-TR criteria, with the exception of nicotine and caffeine; -
* Subjects already participating in another biomedical research project or who have participated in a study using ionizing radiation within the past year;
* Pregnant woman parturient or breastfeeding
* MRI contraindications (: people using pacemaker or insulin pumps, with implanted or embedded metal objects in the head or body, claustrophobic, with neurosensory stimulators or implantable defibrillators, with cochlear implants, with ferromagnetic foreign bodies in the eye or brain close to nerve structures, agitation of the subject (uncooperative or agitated subjects), ventriculoperitoneal neurosurgical shunt valves, dental appliances)
* Subject with a contraindication to PET scans at the ORM: hypersensitivity to the active substance or to any of the excipients (sodium chloride)
* Subjects who are unable to understand or complete the study (language barrier, obvious lack of motivation, etc.) as judged by the investigator.
* Subjects who do not agree to be informed in the event of an incidental finding of an abnormality on MRI or during neuropsychological assessment.
* Persons deprived of their liberty by judicial or administrative decision.
* Persons receiving psychiatric care.
* Persons admitted to a health or social care facility for purposes other than research.
```

## Locations (1)

- Hôpital Neurologique Pierre Wertheimer - Service de Neurologie, Bron, France _(45.7386, 4.9130)_
  - Chloé Laurencin, MD, PhD, (CONTACT), 472118022, chloe.laurencin@chu-lyon.fr
  - Chloé Laurencin, MD/PhD, (PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR)

## Central Contacts

- Chloé Laurencin, MD / PhD, (CONTACT), 472118022, chloe.laurencin@chu-lyon.fr
- Bénédicte Ballanger, PhD, (CONTACT), 472138978, benedicte.ballanger@cnrs.fr

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT07569120*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT07569120*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07569120*