Sex- and Context-dependent Effects of Oxytocin on Social Reward Processing

The aim of the present study is to examine whether the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) influences social reward processing and whether the effects are context- and sex-dependent.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Mental Health Wellness 1; Social Behavior; Emotion
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Oxytocin; Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subject design healthy volunteers will receive either oxytocin or placebo nasal spray (40IU in 10 puffs).

Subjects will come to the experiment in pairs (two friends of the same sex). 45 min after drug administration, the two subjects will simultaneously undergo a social reward task - during the task, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data will be acquired from one of them. During the social reward task subjects will be asked to rate the valence and arousal of emotional pictures in three different conditions: alone, share with a stranger and share with their friend.

Before treatment, subjects will complete a range of validated questionnaires to control for potential confounders, such as level of depression (assessed using the BDI) and to explore associations between relevant personality factors and treatment effects, such as adult attachment style (assessed using the AAS).

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 252
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Keith Kendrick, Dr; Email: kkendrick@uestc.edu.cn
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Benjamin Becker, Dr; Email: ben_becker@gmx.de

Study Locations

• China
  • Sichuan
    • Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 611731
      • Recruiting
      • School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
      • Contact: Qin Li, Master; Email: helenlee@uestc.edu.cn

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 17 years to 30 years (Child, Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorder, right-handed, had normal or corrected-to normal vision.

Exclusion Criteria:

• self-reported medication use, substance abuse, and presence of medical or psychiatric disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; Placebo nasal spray	Drug: Placebo; 40IU
Experimental: Oxytocin; Oxytoxin nasal spray	Drug: Oxytocin; 40IU

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
fMRI: neural activity during social reward processing	Main effects of treatment will be analyzed on fMRI activity during a social reward processing paradigm.	45-115 minutes after administration
Modulatory effects of sex on fMRI based neural indices during social reward processing	Interaction between treatment effects and sex will be analyzed on fMRI indices acquired during reward processing	45-115 minutes after administration
fMRI: functional connectivity during social reward processing	Main effects of treatment will be analyzed on fMRI connectivity during a social reward processing paradigm.	45-115 minutes after administration

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Behavior: arousal ratings during social reward processing	Main effects of treatment will be analyzed on behavioral ratings of arousal acquired during the social reward processing paradigm.	45-115 minutes after administration
Behavior: valence rating during social reward processing	Main effects of treatment will be analyzed on behavioral ratings of valence acquired during the social reward processing paradigm.	45-115 minutes after administration
Modulatory effects of sex on arousal ratings during social reward processing	Interactions between treatment and sex will be analyzed on behavioral arousal ratings acquired during the social reward processing paradigm.	45-115 minutes after administration
Modulatory effects of sex on valence ratings during social reward processing	Interactions between treatment and sex will be analyzed on behavioral valence ratings acquired during the social reward processing paradigm.	45-115 minutes after administration
Pre-treatment modulators: attachment style (AAS)	Associations between neural and behavioral effects of treatment with pre-treatment attachment style as assessed by the Adult Attachment Scale (AAS)	45-115 minutes after administration

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ma X, Zhao W, Luo R, Zhou F, Geng Y, Xu L, Gao Z, Zheng X, Becker B, Kendrick KM. Sex- and context-dependent effects of oxytocin on social sharing. Neuroimage. 2018 Dec;183:62-72. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.08.004. Epub 2018 Aug 4.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): August 1, 2018
• Study Completion (Anticipated): December 1, 2018

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 2, 2017
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 14, 2017
• First Posted (Actual): March 21, 2017

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 7, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 6, 2018
• Last Verified: February 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: functional magnetic resonance imaging; social reward; social sharing; reward circuit
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Reproductive Control Agents; Oxytocics; Oxytocin
• Other Study ID Numbers: UESTC-neuSCAN-08

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No