The main aim of the study is to investigate whether orally administered oxytocin (24IU) could modulate females' neural and behavioral responses to affective stimuli including emotional faces and affective scenes.
All subjects will complete a series of questionnaires firstly to control for possible pre-treatment confounders in terms of personality traits and mood: Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI), Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ), Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Second Version of Social Responsiveness Scale(SRS-2), Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). PANAS is administered before and after oral administration and after functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. In the current double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled study 80 healthy female subjects will be recruited and receive oral administration either oxytocin (24IU) or placebo. Blood samples are collected twice before and 30 minutes after oral administration to assess the plasma OXT concentrations change. 45 minutes after oral administration subjects will be required to finish fMRI scanning including resting-state fMRI task, emotional face task (happy, fear, angry and neutral faces), affective scene task (NAPS, Nencki affective picture system, positive, neutral, and negative-valence scenes). After fMRI scanning, subjects will be required to rate valence, intensity, and arousal responses (Likert scale, 1-9 ratings) to the emotional and affective stimuli are presented during fMRI scanning.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
80
Administration of oxytocin (24 international units) orally
Administration of placebo orally
school of life science and technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
RECRUITINGChanges in blood oxytocin concentrations after oral oxytocin
Changes in blood oxytocin concentrations will be assessed across two groups between baseline and 30 minutes after oral treatment administration.
Time frame: Before and 30 minutes after treatment
Effects of oral oxytocin on neural responses to emotional faces assessed by emotional faces processing task fMRI
Comparison of neural activations between oral administration of oxytocin and placebo by means of treatment (oxytocin, placebo)× faces(happy, neutral, angry, fear) ANOVA and emotional face-specific post-hoc comparisons between the treatment groups.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Effects of oral oxytocin on neural responses to affective scenes assessed by affective scenes processing task fMRI
Comparison of neural activations as assessed by functional MRI on the whole-brain level between oral oxytocin and placebo by means of treatment (oxytocin, placebo) × scenes(neutral, positive, negative) ANOVA and scene-specific post-hoc comparisons between the treatment groups.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Effects of oral oxytocin on behavioral ratings of emotional faces stimuli
Differences in behavioral ratings of valence(1-9-point Likert scale, 1 means very negative,9 means very positive, 5 means neutral), intensity (1-9-point Likert scale, 1 means mild, 9 means strong), and arousal(1-9-point Likert scale, 1 means sleepy, 9 means alert) for emotional faces stimuli between oxytocin group and placebo group.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Effects of oral oxytocin on behavioral ratings of affective scenes stimuli
Differences in behavioral ratings of valence(1-9-point Likert scale, 1 means very negative,9 means very positive, 5 means neutral), intensity (1-9-point Likert scale, 1 means mild, 9 means strong), and arousal(1-9-point Likert scale, 1 means sleepy, 9 means alert) of affective scenes stimuli between oxytocin group and placebo group.
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Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
The relationship between plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and neural responses to emotional faces stimuli
Correlation analysis between oral oxytocin-induced plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and oral oxytocin-induced neural responses/functional connectivity changes of emotional faces will be explored across two treatment groups.
Time frame: Before treatment to 150 minutes after treatment
The relationship between plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and neural responses to affective scenes stimuli
Correlation analysis between oral oxytocin-induced plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and oral oxytocin-induced neural responses/functional connectivity changes of affective scenes stimuli will be explored across two treatment groups.
Time frame: Before treatment to 150 minutes after treatment
The relationship between plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and behavioral responses to emotional faces stimuli
Correlation analysis between plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and post-scan behavioral ratings of emotional faces stimuli will be explored across two treatment groups.
Time frame: Before treatment to 150 minutes after treatment
The relationship between plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and behavioral responses to affective scenes stimuli
Correlation analysis between oral oxytocin-induced plasma oxytocin concentrations changes and post-scan behavioral ratings of affective scenes stimuli will be explored across two treatment groups.
Time frame: Before treatment to 150 minutes after treatment
Gender differences in plasma oxytocin concentrations changes
Gender differences (male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) in oral oxytocin-induced plasma oxytocin concentrations changes will be investigated.
Time frame: Before and 30 minutes after treatment
Gender differences in neural response to emotional faces stimuli
Gender differences (male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) in oral oxytocin-induced neural responses/functional connectivity to emotional faces stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Gender differences in neural response to affective scenes stimuli
Gender differences (male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) in oral oxytocin-induced neural responses/functional connectivity to affective scenes stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Gender differences in behavioral responses to emotional faces stimuli
Gender differences (male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) in oral oxytocin-induced post-scan behavioral responses to emotional faces stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Gender differences in behavioral responses to affective scenes stimuli
Gender differences (male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) in oral oxytocin-induced post-scan behavioral responses to affective scenes stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Interaction effect between gender and treatment on plasma oxytocin concentrations changes
The interaction effect between gender(male/female, male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) and treatment(OXT/PLC) on plasma oxytocin concentrations changes will be investigated.
Time frame: Before and 30 minutes after treatment
Interaction effect between gender and treatment on neural response to emotional faces stimuli
The interaction effect between gender(male/female, male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) and treatment(OXT/PLC) on neural response/functional connectivity to emotional faces stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Interaction effect between gender and treatment on neural response to affective scenes stimuli
The interaction effect between gender(male/female, male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) and treatment(OXT/PLC) on neural response/functional connectivity to affective scenes stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Interaction effect between gender and treatment on behavioral responses to emotional faces stimuli
The interaction effect between gender(male/female, male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) and treatment(OXT/PLC) on post-scan behavioral ratings of emotional faces stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment
Interaction effect between gender and treatment on behavioral responses to affective scenes stimuli
The interaction effect between gender(male/female, male's data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04320706) and treatment(OXT/PLC) on post-scan behavioral ratings of affective scenes stimuli will be investigated.
Time frame: 45 minutes after treatment