Inhaled Oxytocin and HPA Axis Reactivity

Overview

Mothers who were enrolled in the Mood, Mother and Infant study will be eligible to participate in the 6-year follow-up maternal visit. At the time of this visit, mothers will be randomized to a single 24 IU dose of nasal oxytocin or placebo. Following administration of the study drug, women will participate in the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), and blood samples will be collected to quantify HPA axis reactivity.

The Mood, Mother and Infant Study is a prospective observational cohort study that began enrollment in May of 2013. Women were recruited in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and followed prospectively through 12 months postpartum. Mother-infant pairs who completed the 12-month visit will be invited to participate in the current Psychobiology of Resilience in Maternal-Child Pairs follow-up study. The trial described here is a randomized controlled trial embedded within the Psychobiology of Resilience study. Non-pregnant women will be randomized to either 24 IU of nasal oxytocin (OT) or placebo. The Investigational Drug Service (IDS) will use a random number generator to prepare a randomization table. Participants will be block randomized by risk status at enrollment in the Mood, Mother and Infant (MMI) study, as verified by structured clinical diagnostic interview (No history of depression or anxiety, Past depression or anxiety, current depression or anxiety). Both participants and study personnel will be blinded to allocation group. At the end of the protocol, participants will be asked which condition they believed they were in ('oxytocin,' 'control,' 'not sure') to ascertain success of blinding. Forty minutes after treatment, women will undergo the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), comprised of a speech task and a math task; the TSST reliably induces large and consistent HPA and cardiovascular responses. The TSST is administered as follows: Pre-Task Instructions: (5 minutes) Subjects will be introduced to 3 people (the 'selection committee') and asked to assume the role of a job applicant. Anticipation Period: The subject prepares her speech for 3 minutes in the presence of the committee. Speech: The committee asks the subject to deliver her talk for 5 minutes while being video and audio-recorded. If the subject finishes early, the committee responds with prepared questions to ensure that she speaks for the entire 5 minutes. These questions are designed to be non-harassing but to create a feeling of lack of predictability/controllability (e.g., "Do you have any enemies?") Serial Subtraction (PASST): The committee will ask the subject to subtract the number 7 from 2000 as quickly and accurately as possible for 5 minutes. For each mistake, the committee says "Stop -- mistake -- start over at 2000." Stress Recovery: The subject sits quietly alone for 20 minutes. Blood will be collected at baseline, during the speech and math tasks, and at 10 and 20 minutes of recovery, as HPA-axis responses are reliably found 10-30 minutes following the TSST. Evidence regarding optimal timing of stress testing is conflicting. Visits will be scheduled for 1 pm to increase likelihood of detecting a stress response unopposed by the circadian influence, based on the experience of investigators in our laboratory and published studies of postpartum women. These investigators have found menstrual cycle phase does not affect TSST results; therefore, the date of last menstrual period and hormone use will be recorded, but visits will not be scheduled based on cycle phase.

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes