The Effects of Hydromorphone on Responses to Verbal Tasks
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2016-09-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
In this study, the investigators will examine the effects of hydromorphone, as compared to
placebo, upon physiological, subjective, and hormonal responses to a stressful speech task
and a non-stressful control task in healthy adults. There is strong evidence in support of
the role of endogenous opioids and opiates in mediating social behavior in humans and other
animals, and particularly, in social distress. The investigators have recently shown that
buprenorphine, a partial mu-opioid agonist, reduces cortisol responses to stress. Here, the
investigators propose to further explore the role of the opioid system in mediating stress
responses in humans through the use of hydromorphone, a full mu opioid agonist, in addition
to acetaminophen. The investigators hypothesize that like acetaminophen, hydromorphone will
reduce both physiological and subjective measures of stress.