The effect of intranasal oxytocin on neural response to facial emotions in healthy adults as measured by functional MRI: A systematic review

Intranasal oxytocin modulates brain activity during emotional processing in children with treatment resistant conduct problems

One of the most highly replicated neural correlates of Conduct Problems (CP) is amygdala hypoactivity to another person's fear. We recently reported that this correlate was only observed in boys with persistent CP (i.e. antisocial behaviour that persisted following a gold-standard psychological intervention), suggesting that amygdala hypoactivity to fear could be an important neural signature for treatment-resistant CP, and a putative target for future treatments. Potential treatment candidates include the oxytocin system, as this has been reported to modulate amygdala activity and social behaviour across species. Further, in adults with antisocial personality disorder, intranasal oxytocin improved facial emotion recognition for fearful and happy faces. However, to-date, no-one has studied whether intranasal oxytocin can normalise neural processing differences in children with CP. Twenty boys (mean age 9.85±1.26 years) with persistent CP underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a within-subject randomised control design to investigate whether, compared to placebo, a single-dose of intranasal oxytocin could 'shift' abnormal neural processing to fear. Oxytocin failed to reduce amygdala hypoactivity to fearful faces, but increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex / precuneus to happy faces. These findings tentatively suggest that intranasal oxytocin may promote a more neurotypical profile in treatment-resistant CP children, therefore, supporting the merit of investigating oxytocin in further larger clinical studies in this population.

Intranasal oxytocin blunts amygdala response to negative affective stimuli in males and females with alcohol use disorder: a randomized controlled cross-over trial

RATIONALE

Negative affect plays a prominent role in the maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and has been identified as a risk factor for relapse to alcohol. To date, however, treatment options that target negative affective states and consecutive relapse risk in AUD are insufficient. Oxytocin (OXY) might be a promising approach for addressing negative affective states and resulting motivation to use alcohol.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to investigate the acute effects of 24 I.U. OXY, administered intranasally, compared to matched placebo (PLC) on central processing of negative emotional stimuli in the amygdala in individuals with AUD.

METHODS

We conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study in N = 24 individuals with AUD. Amygdala response to emotional stimuli served as primary outcome and was assessed using a validated functional magnetic resonance imaging emotion-processing task. Alcohol craving served as secondary outcome.

RESULTS

OXY versus PLC attenuated right amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry emotional face stimuli during the fMRI task (t(33) = 3.32, pFWE=0.035), while no effect of OXY on amygdala activation was observed during the presentation of geometric figures. In addition, right amygdala reactivity to fearful and angry emotional face stimuli was positively associated with alcohol craving (r =.332, Bias corrected and accelerated 95% confidence interval [95% BCa CI]=-0.044 to 0.624, p =.042).

CONCLUSIONS

OXY's effects on the neurocircuitry underlying negative affect and craving in AUD support its potential for dampening alcohol craving induced by negative affective states and implicate OXY as a potential future treatment option for AUD.

CLINICALTRIALS REGISTRY

DRKS00026218.

Oral Oxytocin Blurs Sex Differences in Amygdala Responses to Emotional Scenes

BACKGROUND

Sex differences are shaped both by innate biological differences and the social environment and are frequently observed in human emotional neural responses. Oral administration of oxytocin (OXT), as an alternative and noninvasive intake method, has been shown to produce sex-dependent effects on emotional face processing. However, it is unclear whether oral OXT produces similar sex-dependent effects on processing continuous emotional scenes.

METHODS

The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations and neural response to emotional scenes in both sexes.

RESULTS

At the neuroendocrine level, women showed lower endogenous OXT concentrations than men, but oral OXT increased OXT concentrations equally in both sexes. Regarding neural activity, emotional scenes evoked opposite valence-independent effects on right amygdala activation (women > men) and its functional connectivity with the insula (men > women) in men and women in the placebo group. This sex difference was either attenuated (amygdala response) or even completely eliminated (amygdala-insula functional connectivity) in the OXT group. Multivariate pattern analysis confirmed these findings by developing an accurate sex-predictive neural pattern that included the amygdala and the insula under the placebo but not the OXT condition.

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the current study suggest a pronounced sex difference in neural responses to emotional scenes that was eliminated by oral OXT, with OXT having opposite modulatory effects in men and women. This may reflect oral OXT enhancing emotional regulation to continuous emotional stimuli in both sexes by facilitating appropriate changes in sex-specific amygdala-insula circuitry.

Oxytocin modulates neural activity during early perceptual salience attribution

Leading hypotheses of oxytocin's (OT) role in human cognition posit that it enhances salience attribution. However, whether OT exerts its effects predominantly in social (vs non-social) contexts remains debatable, and the time-course of intranasal OT's effects' on salience attribution processing is still unknown. We used the social Salience Attribution Task modified (sSAT) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled intranasal OT (inOT) administration, between-subjects design, with 54 male participants, to test existing theories of OT's role in cognition. Namely, we aimed to test whether inOT would differently affect salience attribution processing of social stimuli (expressing fearfulness) and non-social stimuli (fruits) made relevant via monetary reinforcement, and its neural processing time-course. During electroencephalography (EEG) recording, participants made speeded responses to emotional social (fearful faces) and non-emotional non-social (fruits) stimuli - which were matched for task-relevant motivational salience through their (color-dependent) probability of monetary reinforcement. InOT affected early (rather than late, P3b and LPP) EEG components, increasing N170 amplitude (p = .041) and P2b latency (p .001; albeit not of P1), regardless of stimuli's (emotional) socialness or reinforcement probability. Fear-related socialness affected salience attribution processing EEG (p .05) across time (N170, P2b and P3b), being later modulated by reinforcement probability (LPP). Our data suggest that OT's effects on neural activity during early perception, may exist irrespective of fear-related social- or reward-contexts. This partially supports the tri-phasic model of OT (which posits OT enhances salience attribution in an early perception stage regardless of socialness), and not the social salience nor the general approach-withdrawal hypotheses of OT, for early salience processing event-related potentials.

Oxytocin differentially modulates the early neural responses to faces and non-social stimuli

Oxytocin (OT) alters social cognition partly through effects on the processing and appraisal of faces. It is debated whether the hormone also impacts the processing of other, non-social, visual stimuli. To this end, we conducted a randomized, counter-balanced, double-blind, placebo (PL)-controlled within-subjects' electro-encephalography (EEG) study with cismale participants (to control for gender dimorphic hormonal effects; n = 37). Participants received intranasal OT (24IU) and completed a one-back task viewing emotional (fearful/ happy) and neutral faces, and threat (snakes/spiders) and non-threat (mushrooms/flowers) non-social stimuli. OT differentially impacted event-related potentials (ERP)s to faces and non-social stimuli. For faces regardless of emotion, OT evoked greater occipital N1 and anterior P1 amplitudes at ∼155 ms than after PL, and lead to sustained differences over anterior, bilateral parietal and occipital sites from 205 ms onwards. For all non-social stimuli, OT evoked greater right parietal N1 amplitudes, and later only impacted threat stimuli over right parietal and occipital sites. None of these OT-induced modulations was related to individual anxiety levels. This pattern of results indicates that OT differentially modulates the processing of faces and non-social stimuli, and that the hormone's effect on visual processing and cognition does not occur as a function of non-clinical levels of anxiety.

Age-dependent effects of oxytocin in brain regions enriched with oxytocin receptors

Although intranasal oxytocin administration to tap into central functions is the most commonly used non-invasive means for exploring oxytocin's role in human cognition and behavior, the way by which intranasal oxytocin acts on the brain is not yet fully understood. Recent research suggests that brain regions densely populated with oxytocin receptors may play a central role in intranasal oxytocin's action mechanisms in the brain. In particular, intranasal oxytocin may act directly on (subcortical) regions rich in oxytocin receptors via binding to these receptors while only indirectly affecting other (cortical) regions via their neural connections to oxytocin receptor-enriched regions. Aligned with this notion, the current study adopted a novel approach to test 1) whether the connections between oxytocin receptor-enriched regions (i.e., the thalamus, pallidum, caudate nucleus, putamen, and olfactory bulbs) and other regions in the brain were responsive to intranasal oxytocin administration, and 2) whether oxytocin-induced effects varied as a function of age. Forty-six young (24.96 ± 3.06 years) and 44 older (69.89 ± 2.99 years) participants were randomized, in a double-blind procedure, to self-administer either intranasal oxytocin or placebo before resting-state fMRI. Results supported age-dependency in the effects of intranasal oxytocin administration on connectivity between oxytocin receptor-enriched regions and other regions in the brain. Specifically, compared to placebo, oxytocin decreased both connectivity density and connectivity strength of the thalamus for young participants while it increased connectivity density and connectivity strength of the caudate for older participants. These findings inform the mechanisms underlying the effects of exogenous oxytocin on brain function and highlight the importance of age in these processes.

Oxytocin normalizes the implicit processing of fearful faces in psychopathy: a randomized crossover study using fMRI

Adults with antisocial personality disorder with (ASPD + P) and without (ASPD - P) psychopathy commit the majority of violent crimes. Empathic processing abnormalities are particularly prominent in psychopathy, but effective pharmacological interventions have yet to be identified. Oxytocin modulates neural responses to fearful expressions in healthy populations. The current study investigates its effects in violent antisocial men. In a placebo-controlled, randomized crossover design, 34 violent offenders (19 ASPD + P; 15 ASPD - P) and 24 healthy non-offenders received 40 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo and then completed an fMRI morphed faces task examining the implicit processing of fearful facial expressions. Increasing intensity of fearful facial expressions failed to appropriately modulate activity in the bilateral mid-cingulate cortex in violent offenders with ASPD + P, compared with those with ASPD - P. Oxytocin abolished these group differences. This represents evidence of neurochemical modulation of the empathic processing of others' distress in psychopathy.

Oxytocin has sex-specific effects on trust and underlying neurophysiological processes

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) regulates mammalian social approach behavior across sexes. Yet most OT studies in humans exclusively investigated men. Here, we studied sex differences in OT's effects on human trust behavior in 144 heterosexual participants (73 women, 71 men). Participants received 24 international units of intranasal OT or placebo treatment and played a trust game in the role of the investor while undergoing electroencephalography. Trustees were represented by photos of the other sex gradually varying in their pre-rated intensities of facial features signaling attractiveness and threat. On a behavioral level, we observed that OT increased trust in men and reduced it in women when trustees showed weak signals of attractiveness and threat. Correspondingly, on the neurophysiological level, we noted that OT intensified the P100 in male participants, but dampened it in female ones. Our findings demonstrate OT's sex- and context-specific effects on social approach behavior and an underlying early visual attention-related brain process. This evidence demonstrates the need to consider psychobiological mechanisms of sexual dimorphism in human OT research.

Effects of single- and multiple-dose oxytocin treatment on amygdala low-frequency BOLD fluctuations and BOLD spectral dynamics in autism

Prior neuroimaging clinical trials investigating the neural effects of intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin demonstrated a key role of the amygdala in oxytocin's neuromodulatory effects. These studies mostly demonstrated the acute effects of single-dose administrations, examining task-dependent effects of oxytocin on brain activity elicited during explicit experimental tasks or stimuli presentations. The increased consideration of oxytocin as a potential ameliorating treatment in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) requires a better understanding of how multiple-dose oxytocin administration affects intrinsic, task-free, amygdala function. In this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with between-subject design, 38 adult men with ASD underwent resting-state fMRI scanning before and after oxytocin or placebo treatment. Effects were assessed either after a single-dose administration, consisting of 24 international units, or after multiple-dose treatment, consisting of 4 weeks of once-daily nasal spray administrations. Compared to placebo, oxytocin induced a decrease in intrinsic resting-state BOLD signal amplitudes of the bilateral amygdala (fractional amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations) and modulated cross-frequency interactions between adjacent BOLD frequency components. The right amygdala showed a pattern of reduced cross-frequency harmonicity, while the left amygdala showed a relative increase in harmonic cross-frequency interactions after oxytocin treatment. Notably, the direction and magnitude of BOLD spectral changes induced after a single-dose were qualitatively similar to treatment effects induced after multiple-dose treatment. Furthermore, the identified spectral changes in amygdalar BOLD amplitude and cross-frequency harmonicity were associated with improved feelings of tension, reflecting oxytocin's anxiolytic, stress-reducing neuromodulatory role. The observed effects of oxytocin on amygdalar BOLD spectral characteristics and associated behaviors contribute to a deeper mechanistic understanding of the intrinsic, task-free neuromodulatory dynamics that underlie single- and multiple-dose oxytocin treatment in ASD. European Clinical Trial Registry (Eudract 2014-000586-45).

Anxiolytic Effects of Chronic Intranasal Oxytocin on Neural Responses to Threat Are Dose-Frequency Dependent

INTRODUCTION

Anxiety disorders are prevalent mental conditions characterized by exaggerated anxious arousal and threat reactivity. Animal and human studies suggest an anxiolytic potential of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT), yet, while a clinical application will require chronic administration protocols, previous human studies have exclusively focused on single-dose (acute) intranasal OT effects.

OBJECTIVE

To facilitate the translation of the potential anxiolytic mechanism of OT into clinical application, we determined whether the anxiolytic effects of OT are maintained with repeated (chronic) administration or are influenced by dose frequency and trait anxiety.

METHODS

In a pre-registered double-blind randomized placebo-controlled pharmaco-fMRI trial the acute (single dose) as well as chronic effects of two different dose frequencies of OT (OT administered daily for 5 days or every other day) on emotional reactivity were assessed in n = 147 individuals with high versus low trait anxiety (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03085654).

RESULTS

OT produced valence, dose frequency, and trait anxiety-specific effects, such that the low-frequency (intermittent) chronic dosage specifically attenuated a neural reactivity increase in amygdala-insula-prefrontal circuits observed in the high anxious placebo-treated subjects in response to threatening but not positive stimuli.

CONCLUSIONS

The present trial provides the first evidence that low-dose frequency chronic intranasal OT has the potential to alleviate exaggerated neural threat reactivity in subjects with elevated anxiety levels, suggesting a treatment potential for anxiety disorders.

Crosstalk between Schizophrenia and Metabolic Syndrome: The Role of Oxytocinergic Dysfunction

The high prevalence of metabolic syndrome in persons with schizophrenia has spurred investigational efforts to study the mechanism beneath its pathophysiology. Early psychosis dysfunction is present across multiple organ systems. On this account, schizophrenia may be a multisystem disorder in which one organ system is predominantly affected and where other organ systems are also concurrently involved. Growing evidence of the overlapping neurobiological profiles of metabolic risk factors and psychiatric symptoms, such as an association with cognitive dysfunction, altered autonomic nervous system regulation, desynchrony in the resting-state default mode network, and shared genetic liability, suggest that metabolic syndrome and schizophrenia are connected via common pathways that are central to schizophrenia pathogenesis, which may be underpinned by oxytocin system dysfunction. Oxytocin, a hormone that involves in the mechanisms of food intake and metabolic homeostasis, may partly explain this piece of the puzzle in the mechanism underlying this association. Given its prosocial and anorexigenic properties, oxytocin has been administered intranasally to investigate its therapeutic potential in schizophrenia and obesity. Although the pathophysiology and mechanisms of oxytocinergic dysfunction in metabolic syndrome and schizophrenia are both complex and it is still too early to draw a conclusion upon, oxytocinergic dysfunction may yield a new mechanistic insight into schizophrenia pathogenesis and treatment.

The importance of pro-social processing, and ameliorating dysfunction in schizophrenia. An FMRI study of oxytocin

Schizophrenia is often a severe and debilitating mental illness, frequently associated with impairments in social cognition that hinder individuals' abilities to relate to others and integrate effectively in society. Oxytocin has emerged as a putative therapeutic agent for treating social deficits in schizophrenia, but the mode of action remains unclear. This placebo-controlled crossover study aimed to elucidate the neural underpinnings of oxytocin administration in patients with schizophrenia. 20 patients with schizophrenia were examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging under oxytocin (40 IU) or placebo nasal spray. Participants performed a stochastically rewarded decision-making task that incorporated elements of social valence provided by different facial expressions, i.e. happy, angry and neutral. Oxytocin attenuated the normal bias in selecting the happy face accompanied by reduced activation in a network of brain regions that support mentalising, processing of facial emotion, salience, aversion, uncertainty and ambiguity in social stimuli, including amygdala, temporo-parietal junction, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and insula. These pro-social effects may contribute to the facilitation of social engagement and social interactions in patients with schizophrenia and warrant further investigation in future clinical trials for social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia.

Effects of intranasal oxytocin on threat- and reward-related functional connectivity in men and women with and without childhood abuse-related PTSD

Novel treatments that target neurobiological alterations associated with childhood trauma, particularly among those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), could mitigate negative outcomes for these at-risk individuals. PTSD is characterized by abnormalities within the brain's salience network and reward circuitry, which are modulated by intranasal oxytocin. Using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover design, we tested whether intranasal oxytocin (24 international units) influenced functional coupling of the amygdala with the anterior insula (AI), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and nucleus accumbens in response to implicitly presented fearful, angry, and happy faces among childhood trauma-exposed individuals with (n = 16, 9 women) and without PTSD (n = 18, 12 women). Psychophysiological interaction analyses revealed that oxytocin effects were limited to amygdala-AI connectivity in the fear condition, distinct for men and women, and not impacted by PTSD diagnosis. In response to fear faces, oxytocin reduced left amygdala-left AI connectivity for women but not men; reduced left amygdala-right AI connectivity among women, but increased this connectivity in men; and reduced right amygdala-right anterior insula connectivity for men, but increased it for women. Results suggest that intranasal oxytocin modulates threat salience among childhood trauma-exposed individuals and that these effects vary as a function of gender and hemisphere.

Divergent effects of oxytocin on "mind-reading" in healthy males

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been associated with a broad range of human behaviors, particularly in the domain of social cognition, and is being discussed to play a role in a range of psychiatric disorders. Studies using the Reading The Mind In The Eyes Test (RMET) to investigate the role of OT in mental state recognition reported inconsistent outcomes. The present study applied a randomized, double-blind, cross-over design, and included measures of serum OT. Twenty healthy males received intranasal placebo or OT (24 IU) before performing the RMET. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses showed that contrary to previous studies (Domes et al., 2007; Radke & de Bruijn, 2015), individuals performed worse in the OT condition compared to the placebo condition (p = 0.023, Cohen’s d = 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.08, 1.02], BF₁₀ = 6.93). OT effects did not depend on item characteristics (difficulty, valence, intensity, sex) of the RMET. Furthermore, OT serum levels did not change after intranasal OT administration. Given that similar study designs lead to heterogeneous outcomes, our results highlight the complexity of OT effects and support evidence that OT might even interfere with social cognitive abilities. However, the Bayesian analysis approach shows that there is only moderate evidence that OT influences mind-reading, highlighting the need for larger-scale studies considering the discussed aspects that might have led to divergent study results.

Oxytocinergic Modulation of Threat-Specific Amygdala Sensitization in Humans Is Critically Mediated by Serotonergic Mechanisms

BACKGROUND

Overarching conceptualizations propose that the complex social-emotional effects of oxytocin (OXT) in humans are partly mediated by interactions with other neurotransmitter systems. Recent animal models suggest that the anxiolytic effects of OXT are critically mediated by the serotonin (5-HT) system, yet direct evidence in humans is lacking.

METHODS

To determine the role of 5-HT in OXT-induced attenuation of amygdala threat reactivity and sensitization/desensitization, we conducted a parallel-group, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind experiment during which 121 healthy subjects underwent a transient decrease in 5-HT signaling via acute tryptophan depletion or the corresponding placebo-control protocol before the administration of intranasal OXT or placebo intranasal spray, respectively. Mean and repetition-dependent changes in threat-specific amygdala reactivity toward threatening stimuli (angry faces) as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging served as the primary outcome.

RESULTS

No main or interaction effects of treatment on amygdala threat reactivity were observed, yet OXT switched bilateral amygdala threat sensitization to desensitization, and this effect was significantly attenuated during decreased central 5-HT signaling via pretreatment with acute tryptophan depletion.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings provide the first evidence for a role of OXT in threat-specific amygdala desensitization in humans and suggest that these effects are critically mediated by the 5-HT system. OXT may have a therapeutic potential to facilitate amygdala desensitization, and adjunct upregulation of 5-HT neurotransmission may facilitate OXT's anxiolytic potential.

Effects of the Prenatal Administration of Tetanus Toxoid on the Sociability and Explorative Behaviors of Rat Offspring: A Preliminary Study

OBJECTIVE

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a severely disabling psychiatric disease characterized by impairments in communication and social skills. Although efforts have been made to explore the etiology of ASD, its pathophysiology remains unclear. This issue is rendered more challenging by confounding data about the effects of vaccination on disease etiology. In this study, therefore, we investigated the neurodevelopmental effects of maternal tetanus toxoid administration on rat offspring. We hypothesized that the vaccine affects the sociability and preference for social novelty of rat offspring as well as the production of immunological and neurotrophic factors, including tumor necrosis factor-alfa (TNF-α), neuregulin-1 (NRG-1), neuron growth factor (NGF), and oxytocin.

METHODS

The study involved 12 female and 4 male adult Sprague-Dawley rats (238 ± 10 g), which were assigned to two groups. Group 1 (control group) was given 0.5 ml of normal saline (0.9% NaCl) on the 10th day of pregnancy, whereas Group 2 (experimental group) was administered 0.5 ml of tetanus vaccine (tetanus toxoid, 40 IU).

RESULTS

Maternal tetanus toxoid administration exerted beneficial effects on the sociability and explorative behaviors of the rats. The brain tissue levels of TNF-α, NGF, NRG-1, and oxytocin were higher in the experimental group than those among the controls. All these significant differences were found in both the male and female rats.

CONCLUSION

This study is the first to demonstrate the advantages of tetanus toxoid administration in relation to the sociability and explorative behaviors of rat offspring. The results showed that the vaccine also influences NRG-1, neuregulin, and oxytocin production.

Oxytocin attenuates neural response to emotional faces in social drinkers: an fMRI study

INTRODUCTION

Oxytocin is a key mediator of emotional and social behavior that seems to be of relevance for the development and maintenance of addictive behaviors. We thus investigated the effect of oxytocin on neural response and behavior during a face-matching task in a sample of social drinkers.

METHODS

Thirteen social drinkers underwent a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over functional magnetic resonance imaging face-matching task with and without prior intranasal application of 24 international units oxytocin. Effects of oxytocin and task condition (faces, shapes) on brain activation and individual task performance were assessed.

RESULTS

Face-matching compared to shape-matching trials resulted in higher brain activation in the bilateral amygdala, hippocampus and parts of the occipital gyri. Oxytocin application vs. placebo reduced activation in bilateral amygdala, parts of the frontal gyri, and the parietal lobe. Region of interest analyses indicated that the oxytocin-induced attenuation of amygdala response was specific to face-stimuli and associated with lower subjective alcohol craving, and a lower percentage of heavy-drinking days (defined as ≥ 5 standard drinks/day).

CONCLUSION

For the first time, we could show that a larger oxytocin-induced attenuation of amygdala response to fearful faces is associated with lower subjective craving for alcohol and percentage of heavy drinking days in social drinkers. Modulation of amygdala activation, induced by emotional stimuli, might represent a neurobiological substrate of oxytocin's protective effects on drug seeking behavior.

Oxytocin modulates alcohol-cue induced functional connectivity in the nucleus accumbens of social drinkers

The brain oxytocin system is involved in a wide range of addictive behaviors, inhibiting prime- and cue-induced relapse in preclinical models of substance use disorders. Especially the ability of oxytocin to modulate connectivity between the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and cortical regions has been identified as a factor likely to be critical to its effects on relapse. We thus investigated the effect of oxytocin on NAc functional connectivity during an alcohol cue-reactivity task. Thirteen male social drinkers participated in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) alcohol cue-reactivity task with and without prior intranasal application of 24 IU oxytocin. Effects of oxytocin and functional connectivity during presentation of alcohol cues were assessed using ROI-to-ROI generalized psychophysiological interaction analyses. Oxytocin application significantly reduced NAc connectivity with the cuneus and thalamo-occipital connectivity, while enhancing connectivity between the paracingulate gyrus and precentral gyrus. This effect was specific to the alcohol presentation and was not found during processing of neutral pictures. In addition, the NAc-cuneus connectivity significantly correlated with alcohol cue-induced craving during the scanning session. For the first time, we could show that oxytocin selectively attenuates NAc connectivity during an alcohol cue-reactivity task which was related to changes in subjective craving for alcohol. This might reflect an attenuation of alcohol-cue saliency by oxytocin, which improves inhibitory control over craving and cue reactivity.

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Expression Positively Correlates with Social and Behavioral Function in Children with Autism

The peptide hormone oxytocin is an established regulator of social function in mammals, and dysregulated oxytocin signaling is implicated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Several clinical trials examining the effects of intranasal oxytocin for improving social and behavioral function in ASD have had mixed or inclusive outcomes. The heterogeneity in clinical trials outcomes may reflect large inter-individual expression variations of the oxytocin and/or vasopressin receptor genes OXTR and AVPR1A, respectively. To explore this hypothesis we examined the expression of both genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from ASD children, their non-ASD siblings, and age-matched neurotypical children aged 3 to 16 years of age as well as datamined published ASD datasets. Both genes were found to have large inter-individual variations. Higher OXTR and AVPR1A expression was associated with lower Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) scores. OXTR expression was associated with less severe behavior and higher adaptive behavior on additional standardized measures. Combining the sum expression levels OXTR, AVPR1A, and IGF1 yielded the strongest correlation with ABC scores. We propose that future clinical trials in ASD children with oxytocin, oxytocin mimetics and additional tentative therapeutics should assess the prognostic value of their PBMC mRNA expression of OXTR, AVPR1A, and IGF1.

The influence of oxytocin and vasopressin on men's judgments of social dominance and trustworthiness: An fMRI study of neutral faces

Cues signaling trust and dominance are crucial for social life. Previous studies on the effects of oxytocin (OT) nasal sprays on trustworthiness evaluations have been inconsistent and its influence on dominance is unknown. Vasopressin (AVP) may also influence social cue perception, but even fewer investigations have evaluated this possibility. We evaluated the effects of intranasal OT and AVP compared to placebo control during three double-blinded functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions. Twenty males received a pseudo-randomized order of nasal spray conditions and rated the trustworthiness and dominance of neutral faces. OT increased facial dominance ratings compared to placebo. Neuroimaging results revealed an inverse relationship between brain activation and face ratings for OT compared to placebo in regions involved in processing emotional expressions. Specifically, the right superior temporal gyrus was attenuated as ratings increased and the left precuneus selectively diminished with increasing dominance ratings. Additionally, OT increased functional connectivity between frontoparietal regions and the right amygdala for faces rated as highly dominant, but OT increased connectivity between the fusiform gyrus, hippocampus, and bilateral ventral tegmental area (VTA) for faces perceived as highly trustworthy. Overall, OT increased the perception of dominance but did not influence trustworthiness judgments. However, we observed regional neural effects for OT that differed between judgments of trustworthiness and dominance. AVP attenuated left temporoparietal junction activity as face ratings increased, a result consistent with AVP influencing mentalization. AVP also led to increased left amygdala and right VTA connectivity with the putamen, which is consistent with cue-driven, habitual responses.

The effect of oxytocin administration on empathy and emotion recognition in residential youth: A randomized, within-subjects trial

Previous research has revealed a positive effect of oxytocin administration on several social behaviors especially in individuals with social-affective deficits. However, it is still unknown whether intranasal oxytocin administration (OT-IN) can be beneficial to residential youth who exhibit severe social-affective impairments. We conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subjects, sequential study to examine the effect of OT-IN on empathy and emotion recognition in 100 male adolescents living in residential youth care facilities. We also explored the moderating role of callous-unemotional traits, trauma, and dissociation in the oxytocin effect. Participants self-administered one dose of 24 IU of oxytocin or placebo and performed experimental tasks on empathy and emotion recognition before and after the administration. The same procedure was performed one week later with the other substance. We found that empathy was increased after oxytocin administration compared to placebo and this effect was specific to individuals with high callous-unemotional traits. There was no effect of OT-IN on the overall emotion recognition, but there was a positive effect on accuracy of fear recognition. Trauma and dissociation did not moderate the oxytocin effect on empathy or emotion recognition. Our findings provided evidence of a beneficial effect of OT-IN on empathy and fear recognition in residential youth. We propose that a combination of OT-IN and psychological interventions merits further exploration, as it might be a novel promising direction for more tailored approaches and better treatment outcomes.

Oxytocin reduces neural activation in response to infant faces in nulliparous young women

Infant faces have distinctive features that together are described as baby schema, a configuration that facilitates caregiving motivation and behavior, and increases the perception of cuteness. In the current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the effect of a within-subjects intranasal oxytocin administration (24 IU) and caregiving motivation on neural responses to infant faces of varying baby schema in 23 healthy nulliparous women. Overall, infant faces elicited activation in several brain regions involved in reward and salience processing, including the ventral tegmental area (VTA), putamen, amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula, and this activation was related to self-reported caregiving motivation. Critically, whereas we hypothesized enhanced neural caregiving-related responses after oxytocin administration, we observed reduced activation in the VTA, putamen and amygdala after oxytocin compared to placebo. In nulliparous women, oxytocin has been shown to reduce neural responses in the same regions in response to social stimuli using other paradigms. Oxytocin might affect neural activation toward social stimuli depending on elicited arousal and personal characteristics. The current study is the first to demonstrate this effect in response to infant faces and thereby adds to specify the role of oxytocin in human social information processing.

Peripheral oxytocin and vasopressin modulates regional brain activity differently in men and women with schizophrenia

BACKGROUND

Oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) exert sexually dimorphic effects on cognition and emotion processing. Abnormalities in these hormones are observed in schizophrenia and may contribute to multiple established sex differences associated with the disorder. Here we examined sex-dependent hormone associations with resting brain activity and their clinical associations in schizophrenia patients.

METHODS

OT and AVP serum concentrations were assayed in 35 individuals with schizophrenia (23 men) and 60 controls (24 men) from the Chicago BSNIP study site. Regional cerebral function was assessed with resting state fMRI by measuring the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) which are believed to reflect intrinsic spontaneous neuronal activity.

RESULTS

In female patients, lower OT levels were associated with lower ALFF in frontal and cerebellar cortices (p's < 0.05) and in female controls AVP levels were inversely associated with ALFF in the frontal cortex (p = 0.01). In male patients, lower OT levels were associated with lower ALFF in the posterior cingulate and lower AVP levels were associated with lower ALFF in frontal cortex (p's < 0.05). In male controls, lower OT levels were associated with lower ALFF in frontal cortex and higher ALFF in the thalamus (p's < 0.05). There were some inverse ALFF-behavior associations in patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Alterations in peripheral hormone levels are associated with resting brain physiology in a sex-dependent manner in schizophrenia. These effects may contribute to sex differences in psychiatric symptom severity and course of illness in schizophrenia.

Oxytocin Enhancement of Emotional Empathy: Generalization Across Cultures and Effects on Amygdala Activity

Accumulating evidence suggests that the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) can enhance empathy although it is unclear which specific behavioral and neural aspects are influenced, and whether the effects are modulated by culture, sex, and trait autism. Based on previous findings in Caucasian men, we hypothesized that a single intranasal dose of OXT would specifically enhance emotional empathy (EE) via modulatory effects on the amygdala in an Asian (Chinese) population and explored the modulatory role of sex and trait autism on the effects. We first conducted a double-blind, randomized between-subject design experiment using a modified version of the multifaceted empathy task to determine whether OXT’s facilitation of EE can be replicated in Chinese men (n = 60). To further explore neural mechanisms behind and potential sex differences, functional MRI and skin conductance measures were acquired in an independent experiment incorporating men and women (n = 72). OXT enhanced EE across experiments and sex, an effect that was accompanied by reduced amygdala activity and increased skin conductance responses. On the network level OXT enhanced functional coupling of the right amygdala with the insula and posterior cingulate cortex for positive valence stimuli but attenuated coupling for negative valence stimuli. The effect of OXT on amygdala functional connectivity with the insula was modulated by trait autism. Overall, our findings provide further support for the role of OXT in facilitating EE and demonstrate that effects are independent of culture and sex and involve modulatory effects on the amygdala and its interactions with other key empathy regions.

Bridging the gap between rodents and humans: The role of non-human primates in oxytocin research

Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide that acts in the brain as a neuromodulator, has been long known to shape maternal physiology and behavior in mammals, however its role in regulating social cognition and behavior in primates has come to the forefront only in the recent decade. Many of the current perspectives on the role of OT in modulating social behavior emerged first from studies in rodents, where invasive techniques with a high degree of precision have permitted the mechanistic dissection of OT-related behaviors, as well as their underlying neural circuits in exquisite detail. In parallel, behavioral and imaging studies in humans have suggested that brain OT may similarly influence human social behavior and neural activity. These studies in rodents and humans have spurred interest in the therapeutic potential of targeting the OT system to remedy deficits in social cognition and behavior that are present across numerous psychiatric disorders. Yet there remains a tremendous gap in our mechanistic understanding of the influence of brain OT on social neural circuitry between rodents and man. In fact, very little is known regarding the neural mechanisms by which exogenous or endogenous OT influences human social cognition, limiting its therapeutic potential. Here we discuss how non-human primates (NHPs) are uniquely positioned to now bridge the gaps in knowledge provided by the precise circuit-level approaches widely used in rodent models and the behavioral, imaging, and clinical studies in humans. This review provides a perspective on what has been achieved, and what can be expected from exploring the role of OT in shaping social behaviors in NHPs in the coming years.