The Effects of Acute Administration of Bupropion on Neural Substrates Underlying Hedonic Capacity

A cardinal feature of Major Depressive Disorder is anhedonia, which is a lack of pleasure in normally enjoyable activities. In order to understand reward processing in depressed individuals it is also necessary to study reward processing in people who are not depressed. Bupropion, the active drug in the anti-depressant Wellbutrin XL, has been shown to increase brain reward functioning in animals. The goal of the present study is to investigate the effects of Wellbutrin XL administered to psychiatrically healthy individuals as they perform a computer task known to assess reward processing.

Inclusion criteria

• Absence of medical, neurological, and psychiatric illness (including alcohol and substance abuse)
• Non-Smoker
• Right-handed (Chapman and Chapman 1987)
• Ability to provide informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• Predisposition to seizure (e.g. family history of a seizure disorder, history of head trauma) or current use of medications that lower the seizure threshold
• History or current diagnosis of anorexia or bulimia
• Alcohol or substance abuse within the past year
• Current usage of Wellbutrin or Zyban or other drugs that contain bupropion
• Recent discontinuation of alcohol or sedatives (including benzodiazepines)
• Use of (in the last 2 weeks) medications that may have antidepressant properties (ex. some herbal supplements)
• Known allergies to bupropion
• Currently lactating, pregnant or believe you are likely to be pregnant (enrolled subjects who are not using reliable contraception and have engaged in sexual intercourse since their last menstrual period will be given a self-administered pregnancy test.)
• Left-handed/ambidextrous
• Evidence of neurological illness
• Serious suicide or homicide risk

Concomitant medications other than those listed in the exclusion criteria will be considered on an individual basis. Oral contraceptives will be allowed.