The purpose of this study is to determine whether effects of intranasal oxytocin on amygdala and reward system responses vary as a function of treatment dose in women in comparison to men.
The objective of the present study is to determine whether intranasal oxytocin (IN-OXT) effects on blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) in the amygdala and striatal regions (putamen, nucleus accumbens, caudate, pallidum) vary as a function of dose. In particular, the investigators plan to compare effects of three different IN-OXT doses (6, 12, and 24 international units, IU) on established neural and behavioural correlates of emotion processing in women. Results will be discussed in comparison to a previous study of OXT kinetics in men.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
92
Intranasal administration, 6, 12, or 24 international units (IU) oxytocin.
The placebo nasal sprays contain identical ingredients except for the peptide itself.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn
Bonn, Germany
Neural substrates of emotion processing, measured via blood-oxygen-level dependent signal in the amygdala
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be performed to measure blood-oxygen-level dependent signal in response to emotional face stimuli. The investigators specifically plan to investigate amygdala responses to emotional faces, because previous studies found sex-specific effects of oxytocin on amygdala activation.
Time frame: 45 min after nasal spray administration
Neural substrates of emotion processing, measured via blood-oxygen-level dependent signal in striatal regions (putamen, nucleus accumbens, caudate, pallidum)
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be performed to measure blood-oxygen-level dependent signal in response to emotional face stimuli. The investigators specifically plan to investigate striatal responses to emotional faces to explore sex-specific effects of OXT on reward-related brain activation.
Time frame: 45 min after nasal spray administration
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