Recruiting

Hormones & Collagen

Sponsor:

University of Toronto

Code:

NCT07932249

Conditions

Sleep

Collagen Turnover

Cell Culture Techniques

Tendon

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 35

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Study Details

Brief summary:

The goal of this observational study is to evaluate the effect of hormones which surge or diminish during different stages of sleep on collagen turnover in tendon cells. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. To evaluate the effect of serum taken from participants overnight on human tendon cell-derived collagen expression in a cell culture model.
2. To evaluate whether tendon cell-derived collagen expression in a cell culture model is driven by changes in collagen synthesis or breakdown.

To evaluate the effect of sleep on tendon adaptation, blood will be taken from human participants overnight and used to treat a tendon cell culture model.

Conditions

Sleep

Collagen Turnover

Cell Culture Techniques

Tendon

Study ID

NCT07932249

Start date

Nov 10, 2026

Status verified date

Nov, 2026

Completion date

May, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Feb, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 35

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • healthy (determined using a medical screening questionnaire)
  • between the ages of 18 and 35
  • participants must be a non-smoker
  • self-reported moderately active (>150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week)
  • self-reported weight stable (< 2 kg increase or decrease in weight over the previous 6 months)
  • sleep ≥ 7 hours per night
  • female participants must have a stable menstrual cycle (>3 months of 21-35 day cycle length).

Exclusion Criteria:

  • have a BMI <18.5 or >29.9 kg/m2
  • have a history of clinically diagnosed insomnia (>7 on the Insomnia Severity Index) or other sleep disorder (e.g., sleep apnea)
  • use a hormonal contraceptive (oral or IUD)
  • consume 7+ standard drinks per week (high risk range)
  • use cannabis >1 time per week
  • have any concurrent medical, orthopedic, or psychiatric condition that, in the opinion of the investigators, would compromise the ability to comply with the study requirements
  • regularly use anti-inflammatory and/or analgesic medication, whether prescription or not; use any medications known to affect collagen metabolism (e.g., glucocorticoids, acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, or prescription strength acne medication, ACE inhibitors, proton pump inhibitors, growth hormone, GLP-1 receptor agonists);
  • participated in a study involving a phenylalanine stable-isotope tracer in the previous year

Study Design

Enrollment

12 participants

Anticipated

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

Healthy, young males and females.

Healthy, recreationally active, young adults (18-35) regularly getting > 7 h of sleep per night are the target population. There is no intervention for this study.

Primary outcome measure

  • Collagen Expression [ Time Frame: Ex vivo experiments and immunoblot analysis will conclude approximately 12 weeks following serum collection. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Paul L Babits, MSc

647-609-4710paul.babits@mail.utoronto.ca

Dan R Moore, PhD

416-946-4088dr.moore@utoronto.ca

Locations

School of Kinesiology and Health Studies Building

Recruiting

Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6

Contacts

Chris McGlory, PhD

613-533-6000chris.mcglory@queensu.ca

More Information

Sponsor

University of Toronto

Last update posted

Nov 12, 2026

Last verified

Nov, 2026

Keywords

  • Sleep
  • Tendon
  • Collagen Turnover
  • Cell Culture Techniques

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-11-13. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Toronto on 2026-11-12. Recruitment status is synced daily from ClinicalTrials.gov and may not reflect the sponsor's current status. Confirm during your call.