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Lan C, Kou J, Liu Q, Qing P, Zhang X, Song X, Xu D, Zhang Y, Chen Y, Zhou X, Kendrick KM, Zhao W. Oral oxytocin blurs sex differences in amygdala responses to emotional scenes. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2024:S2451-9022(24)00143-5. [PMID: 38852918 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.05.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2024] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The sex differences were co-shaped by innate biological differences and social environment, and were frequently observed in human emotional neural responses. Oral administration of oxytocin, as an alternative and noninvasive intake method, has been demonstrated to produce sex-dependent effects on emotional face processing. However, it is unclear whether oral oxytocin produces similar sex-dependent effects on processing continuous emotional scenes. METHODS Current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuro-psychopharmacological fMRI experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (oxytocin=74, male/female=37/37; placebo=73, male/female=36/37) to examine the oral oxytocin effect on plasma oxytocin concentrations and neural response to emotional scenes in both sexes. RESULTS At the neuroendocrine level, females showed lower endogenous oxytocin concentrations than males, but oral oxytocin equally increased the oxytocin concentrations in both sexes. Regarding neural activity, emotional scenes evoked opposite valence-independent effects on right amygdala activation (females>males) and its functional connectivity with the insula (males>females) in two sexes in the placebo group. This sex difference were either attenuated (amygdala response) or even completely eliminated (amygdala-insula functional connectivity) in the oxytocin group. The multivariate pattern analysis confirmed these findings by developing an accurate sex-predictive neural pattern that including the amygdala and the insula under the placebo but not oxytocin condition. CONCLUSION Present study suggests a pronounced sex-difference in neural responses to emotional scenes which is abolished by oral oxytocin, with it having opposite modulatory effects in two sexes. Possibly 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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunmei Lan
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Juan Kou
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China
| | - Qi Liu
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Peng Qing
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Xiaodong Zhang
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Xinwei Song
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Dan Xu
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China
| | - Yingying Zhang
- Department of Molecular Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, 89069, Germany
| | - Yuanshu Chen
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China
| | - Xinqi Zhou
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, 610066, China
| | - Keith M Kendrick
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China.
| | - Weihua Zhao
- The Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, China; Institute of Electronic and Information Engineering of UESTC in Guangdong, Dongguan, 523808, China.
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Yin H, Jiang M, Han T, Xu X. Intranasal oxytocin as a treatment for anxiety and autism: From subclinical to clinical applications. Peptides 2024; 176:171211. [PMID: 38579916 DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2024.171211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Revised: 03/18/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Animal and human studies have demonstrated that intranasal oxytocin (OT) can penetrate the brain and induce cognitive, emotional, and behavioral changes, particularly in social functioning. Consequently, numerous investigations have explored the potential of OT as a treatment for anxiety and autism, conditions characterized by social deficits. Although both subclinical and clinical studies provide converging evidence of the therapeutic effects of OT in reducing anxiety levels and improving social symptoms in autism, results are not always consistent. Additionally, the pharmacological mechanism of OT requires further elucidation for its effective clinical application. Therefore, this review aims to examine the contentious findings concerning the effects of OT on anxiety and autism, offer interpretations of the inconsistent results from the perspectives of individual differences and varying approaches to OT administration, and shed light on the underlying mechanisms of OT. Ultimately, standardization of dosage, frequency of administration, formulation characteristics, and nasal spray devices is proposed as essential for future human studies and clinical applications of OT treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hailian Yin
- School of psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
| | - Meiyun Jiang
- School of psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China
| | - Tao Han
- Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan 250000, China.
| | - Xiaolei Xu
- School of psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China.
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Yao S, Chen Y, Zhuang Q, Zhang Y, Lan C, Zhu S, Becker B, Kendrick KM. Sniffing oxytocin: Nose to brain or nose to blood? Mol Psychiatry 2023; 28:3083-3091. [PMID: 37185959 PMCID: PMC10615745 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-023-02075-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2022] [Revised: 04/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
In recent years ample studies have reported that intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin can facilitate social motivation and cognition in healthy and clinical populations. However, it is still unclear how effects are mediated since intranasally administered oxytocin can both directly enter the brain (nose to brain) and increase peripheral vascular concentrations (nose to blood). The relative functional contributions of these routes are not established and have received insufficient attention in the field. The current study used vasoconstrictor pretreatment to prevent intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) from increasing peripheral concentrations and measured effects on both resting-state neural (electroencephalography) and physiological responses (electrocardiogram, electrogastrogram and skin conductance). Results demonstrated that intranasal oxytocin alone produced robust and widespread increases of delta-beta cross-frequency coupling (CFC) from 30 min post-treatment but did not influence peripheral physiological measures. As predicted, vasoconstrictor pretreatment greatly reduced the normal increase in peripheral oxytocin concentrations and, importantly, abolished the majority of intranasal oxytocin effects on delta-beta CFC. Furthermore, time-dependent positive correlations were found between increases in plasma oxytocin concentrations and corresponding increases in delta-beta CFC following oxytocin treatment alone. Our findings suggest a critical role of peripheral vasculature-mediated routes on neural effects of exogenous oxytocin administration with important translational implications for its use as an intervention in psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuxia Yao
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
- The MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
| | - Yuanshu Chen
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- The MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Qian Zhuang
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
| | - Yingying Zhang
- Department of Molecular Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
| | - Chunmei Lan
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- The MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Siyu Zhu
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- The MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Benjamin Becker
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
- The MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Keith M Kendrick
- Center of Psychosomatic Medicine, Sichuan Provincial Center for Mental Health, Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
- The MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
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Talpo F, Kaur N, Biella G. Editorial: Oxytocin in brain health and disease: how can it exert such pleiotropic neuromodulatory effects? Front Mol Neurosci 2023; 16:1215351. [PMID: 37266372 PMCID: PMC10230053 DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1215351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/03/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Talpo
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology Lazzaro Spallanzani, University of Pavia, Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
| | - Navjot Kaur
- Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Gerardo Biella
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology Lazzaro Spallanzani, University of Pavia, Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Pavia, Italy
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Zebhauser PT, Macchia A, Gold E, Salcedo S, Burum B, Alonso-Alonso M, Gilbert DT, Pascual-Leone A, Brem AK. Intranasal Oxytocin Modulates Decision-Making Depending on Outcome Predictability-A Randomized Within-Subject Controlled Trial in Healthy Males. Biomedicines 2022; 10:biomedicines10123230. [PMID: 36551985 PMCID: PMC9775473 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines10123230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2022] [Revised: 11/29/2022] [Accepted: 12/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) has been extensively studied with regard to its socio-cognitive and -behavioral effects. Its potential as a therapeutic agent is being discussed for a range of neuropsychiatric conditions. However, there is limited evidence of its effects on non-social cognition in general and decision-making in particular, despite the importance of these functions in neuropsychiatry. Using a crossover/within-subject, blinded, randomized design, we investigated for the first time if intranasal OT (24 IU) affects decision-making differently depending on outcome predictability/ambiguity in healthy males. The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Cambridge Risk Task (CRT) were used to assess decision-making under low outcome predictability/high ambiguity and under high outcome probability/low ambiguity, respectively. After administration of OT, subjects performed worse and exhibited riskier performance in the IGT (low outcome predictability/high ambiguity), whereas they made borderline-significant less risky decisions in the CRT (high outcome probability/low ambiguity) as compared to the control condition. Decision-making in healthy males may therefore be influenced by OT and adjusted as a function of contextual information, with implications for clinical trials investigating OT in neuropsychiatric conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Theo Zebhauser
- Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, 81675 Munich, Germany
| | - Ana Macchia
- Clinic for Psychiatry/Psychotherapy III, Ulm University, 89075 Ulm, Germany
| | - Edward Gold
- Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Stephanie Salcedo
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Bethany Burum
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Miguel Alonso-Alonso
- Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Daniel T. Gilbert
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Alvaro Pascual-Leone
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research and Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health, Hebrew Senior Life, Boston, MA 02131, USA
| | - Anna-Katharine Brem
- Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AF, UK
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry, University of Bern, 3008 Bern, Switzerland
- Correspondence:
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Xu D, Li Q, Zhuang Q, Zhang Y, Yao S, Zhao W, Kendrick KM. Oro-mucosal administration of oxytocin using medicated lollipops alters social attention, similar to intranasal and lingual routes: Implications for therapeutic use. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1022101. [PMID: 36389233 PMCID: PMC9641372 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1022101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 12/09/2023] Open
Abstract
A key functional effect of intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin is on top-down control of social attention. However, an oro-mucosal administration route may be better tolerated for chronic therapeutic use and evidence suggests that some functional effects of oxytocin can be mediated via peripheral routes. The current study investigated if oxytocin administered orally using medicated lollipops can both increase blood oxytocin concentrations and influence social attention and state anxiety. In a randomized, double-blind, clinical trial adult male participants received oral oxytocin (24IU) or placebo 30-min before completing a well-established anti-saccade paradigm which can assess treatment effects on both top-down and bottom-up attention. Oxytocin administration modulated top-down social attentional processing by increasing anti-saccade error rates on both social and non-social stimuli although it only increased response latencies for social cues. Anti-saccade errors were also positively associated with the proportionate increase in plasma oxytocin concentrations. A comparison analysis showed that oral oxytocin administration increased blood concentrations to a similar degree as given by lingual spray, although less than when given intranasally. Importantly, attentional and anxiolytic effects of oxytocin in the anti-saccade task were similar across intranasal, lingual, and oral administration routes. These findings demonstrate that oral administration of oxytocin, similar to via intranasal and lingual routes, can modulate top-down social attention and state anxiety and support its potential for therapeutic use. They also provide further evidence that functional effects of exogenously administered oxytocin can be mediated indirectly either by crossing the blood brain barrier or producing receptor mediated vagal stimulation, as opposed to via direct entry into the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan Xu
- MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Qin Li
- School of Foreign Language, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
| | - Qian Zhuang
- Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yingying Zhang
- Department of Molecular Psychology, Institute of Psychology and Education, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany
| | - Shuxia Yao
- MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Weihua Zhao
- MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Keith M. Kendrick
- MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
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