to examine the association between trait and defensive network connectivity and the modulatory effect of oxytocin on it
Individuals with high trait anxiety show stable anxiety proneness even in the absence of real threat, which could be a result of intrinsic hyper-connectivity in the defensive systems. In the present study, healthy subjects' trait anxiety levels will be assessed by the sub-trait inventory of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Then two experiments using resting-state fMRI technique will be conducted to first map how hubs in the defensive systems organized in high anxious individuals in a stimuli-free situation (Experiment 1) and then we will examine the modulatory effect of the intranasal administration of oxytocin on functional connectivity in these independently defined defensive networks (Experiment 2).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
131
splitting subjects into 2 groups according to scores of the trait anxiety scale
intranasal administration of oxytocin
intranasal administration of placebo
school of life science and technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
the resting state functional connectivity changes in the defensive network
The resting-state activity can be accessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) by measuring spontaneous and low-frequency fluctuations (\< 0.1 Hz) when the brain is at rest. Group differences will be calculated in the high trait anxiety group relative to the low trait anxiety group and in the oxytocin group relative to the placebo group.
Time frame: one day
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