The Effect of Oxytocin on Fear Memory Consolidation Novel Intervention to Prevent Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

March 3, 2017 updated by: Elizabeth A. Hoge, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

The Effect of Oxytocin on Fear Memory Consolidation: A Novel Intervention to Prevent PTSD

The purpose of the study is to learn how differences in learning under mildly-stressful circumstances may be changed by taking oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone made naturally in the body. The investigators will also examine the impact of any anxiety, depression, and stress related symptoms on learning processes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

60

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
        • Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Disorders, MGH

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men or women 18 to 65 years of age
  • Score in study range on the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI)
  • No current Axis I Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV (DSM) excluded diagnoses as determined by the Structured Clinical Interview DSM (SCID) completed within the past 4 months.
  • Must be able and willing to understand study procedures and return to the clinic on two separate consecutive days for the fear-conditioning procedures.
  • Subjects must be able to give informed consent and be willing and able to comply with study procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Presence of a current DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis as measured by the SCID.
  • A serious medical condition or other condition deemed likely to result in surgery or hospitalization, or which would make participation in the study difficult.
  • Patients with a history of trauma resulting in head injury related seizures or with epilepsy (except a prior history of febrile seizures of infancy which are not exclusionary).
  • Use of supplemental hormones (birth control, estrogen, testosterone, prednisone, etc) or narcotics.
  • Pregnant or lactating women.
  • Women of childbearing potential not using medically accepted forms of contraception.
  • Current use of the excluded psychiatric medications.
  • Known hypersensitivity to oxytocin
  • Known hyponatremia.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Matched nasal spray placebo.
Drug: Placebo
Matched nasal spray placebo
Experimental: Oxytocin
Liquid intranasal oxytocin administered in a nasal spray.
Drug: Oxytocin
Liquid metered-dose nasal spray, 30 IUs, administered once.
Other Names:
  • Syntocinon

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Differential Skin Conductance Response (SCR) During the First Two Extinction Trials
Time Frame: Day 2 of Conditioning (1 day post Day 1 of Conditioning)
Differences in skin conductance response (SCR) between the active vs. placebo conditions trials will be used to assess for the impact of oxytocin on fear acquisition and extinction. We will take a mean of the first two extinction trials to get this measure. Data was gathered in micro-Siemens and then underwent a square root transformation.
Day 2 of Conditioning (1 day post Day 1 of Conditioning)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Collaborators

United States Department of Defense

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A Hoge, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

October 1, 2011

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 2, 2011

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2011

First Posted (Estimate)

November 6, 2011

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 14, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2017

Last Verified

March 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2010P-002911

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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