Differential Effects of Oral and Intranasal Oxytocin on Attention Control

The Differential Effects of Oral and Intranasal Oxytocin on Attention Control

The main aim of the present study is to investigate whether oxytocin (24IU) via different routes have divergent effects on attention control in a social-emotional saccade/antisaccade eye-tracking paradigm.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: Oxytocin; Drug: Oxytocin; Drug: Placebo

Detailed Description

Previous studies have demonstrated oral and intranasal oxytocin's divergent effects on arousal rating and neural responses to emotional faces, however, it remains unclear whether different routes of oxytocin treatment would have differential effects on attention processing to social stimuli. Based on the previous registered studies (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04493515 and NCT03486925) from our group using a validated emotional anti-saccade task with social stimuli (emotional faces) and non-social stimuli (oval shape) have separately explored oral and intranasal oxytocin's modulatory effects on attention processing, the present study aims to conduct a secondary analysis of the previously acquired data to directly compare oxytocin's effects on attention control to social emotional stimuli via different routes. To this end data from subjects who underwent intranasal oxytocin administration (n = 33, NCT03486925) will be compared with data from subjects who underwent oral oxytocin or placebo administration (n = 36, or 37 respectively; NCT04493515). To further control for non-treatment related factors the intranasal placebo and oral placebo groups from the previous studies (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03486925 and NCT04493515) will be compared with respect to primary and secondary outcome measures of the trial, in particular general and emotion-specific effects on attentional control.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 151
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• China
  • Sichuan
    • Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 611731
      • University of Electronic Science and Technology of China(UESTC)

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 30 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Male, healthy participants
• Non smokers

Exclusion Criteria:

• Previous or current medical, psychiatric, neurological disorder
• Regular medication
• Use of any psychoactive substances in the 24 hours before experiment
• Contra-indications for eye-tracking data acquisition

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Oral Oxytocin; Oxytocin (24IU) orally	Drug: Oxytocin; Administration of oxytocin (24IU) orally; Drug: Oxytocin; Administration of oxytocin (24IU) intranasally
Experimental: Intranasal Oxytocin; Oxytocin (24IU) intranasally	Drug: Oxytocin; Administration of oxytocin (24IU) orally; Drug: Oxytocin; Administration of oxytocin (24IU) intranasally
Placebo Comparator: Oral Placebo; Placebo orally	Drug: Placebo; Administration of placebo orally

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Differential effects of intranasal and oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli	Comparison between social-specific saccade/antisaccade latencies (in milliseconds) between the intranasal and oral oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions	45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment
Differential effects of intranasal and oral oxytocin administration on error rates of saccade/antisaccade for social (facial) versus non-social (shape) stimuli	Comparison between social-specific error rates of saccade/antisaccade between the intranasal and oral oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions.	45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Emotion-specific effects of intranasal and oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade latencies towards the separate facial emotions	Comparison between emotion-specific saccade/antisaccade latencies (in milliseconds) between the intranasal and oral oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions	45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment
Emotion-specific effects of intranasal and oral oxytocin administration on saccade/antisaccade error rates for the separate facial emotions	Comparison between emotion-specific saccade/antisaccade error rates between the intranasal and oral oxytocin and placebo treatment conditions	45 minutes - 100 minutes after treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Keith Kendrick, PhD, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC)

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 19, 2017
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2021
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 22, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 22, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): March 25, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 25, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 22, 2021
• Last Verified: March 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Oxytocin; Eye-tracking; Attention control; Antisaccade task
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Reproductive Control Agents; Oxytocics; Oxytocin
• Other Study ID Numbers: UESTC-neuSCAN-80

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

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