Oxytocin's Effects on Emotional Processing and Its Acting Routes

The Modulatory Effects of Oxytocin on Emotional Processing and Its Acting Routes

The main goal of this study is to investigate the modulatory effects of intranasally administrated oxytocin on the processing of emotional stimuli and its acting routes.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Healthy Adult Male
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: placebo (compared to vasoconstrictor); Drug: oxytocin; Drug: vasoconstrictor (Otrivin); Drug: placebo (compared to oxytocin)

Detailed Description

In recent years ample studies have reported that intranasally administered oxytocin (OT) can facilitate social motivation and cognition in healthy and clinical populations. However, it is still unclear how effects are mediated since intranasally administered OT can both directly enter the brain (nose to brain) and increase peripheral vascular concentrations (nose to blood). The relative functional contributions of these routes are not established and have received insufficient attention in the field. Therefore, the investigators use the vasoconstrictor (VC) pretreatment to prevent intranasal OT (24 IU) from increasing peripheral concentrations and combine fMRI, behavioral measures, with physiological recording to examine the modulatory effects of OT on implicit emotional processing and its acting routes. In total 120 male participants are recruited for this double-blind, between-subject, placebo-controlled study. After arriving at the laboratory, participants first completed questionnaires for about 30 minutes, and were then randomly assigned into 3 groups receiving intranasal administration of "VC + OT", "placebo (PLC) + OT", or "VC + PLC". Then, they complete a resting-state scan and two task-based scans lasting approximately 65 minutes in total. There is a sencond resting-state scan between two task-based scans, which is mainly used as a break between the two tasks. Blood samples are collected twice (after finishing questionnaires and 30 minutes post-treatment) for subsequent analyses of plasma OT concentrations. The two task-based scans consist of an implicit face-emotion processing task (gender judgments of faces) and an emotional scene processing task (judging whether a child/old people/building/dog is present in the picture). After scanning, there is a 40-minute picture rating task (emotional valence, intensity, and arousal). Questionnaires include State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory II, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Autism Spectrum Quotient, Social Responsiveness Scale-2, Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Toronto Alexithymia Scale and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Shuxia Yao, Dr; Phone Number: +86 18111297596; Email: yaoshuxia@uestc.edu.cn

Study Locations

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

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy subjects without past or current psychiatric or neurological disorders

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of head injury.
• Medical or psychiatric illness.
• Subjects take a certain drug for a long period of time.
• Subjects have metal implants in their bodies.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

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

Number of Arms

3

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Placebo and oxytocin group; Subjects receive placebo of vasoconstrictor and oxytocin treatment	Drug: placebo (compared to vasoconstrictor); intranasal administration of placebo (4 sprays of 0.9% saline and glycerin); Drug: oxytocin; intranasal administration of oxytocin (24IU)
Experimental: Vasoconstrictor and oxytocin group; Subjects receive vasoconstrictor and oxytocin treatment	Drug: oxytocin; intranasal administration of oxytocin (24IU); Drug: vasoconstrictor (Otrivin); intranasal administration of vasoconstrictor (4 sprays of 0.9% Otrivin)
Placebo Comparator: Vasoconstrictor and placebo group; Subjects receive vasoconstrictor and placebo of oxytocin treatment	Drug: vasoconstrictor (Otrivin); intranasal administration of vasoconstrictor (4 sprays of 0.9% Otrivin); Drug: placebo (compared to oxytocin); intranasal administration of placebo (24 IU)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Brain activity in response to emotional stimuli during task-based fMRI scanning	Subjects receive task fMRI scanning after treatment. The investigators will compare the activation differences in the brain, specifically focusing on the amygdala, among three groups.	1 hour
Changes in plasma oxytocin concentrations	Blood samples will be collected two times, with one sample collected after finishing questionnaires and the other one 30-minute post-treatment.	After finishing questionnaires and 30-minute post-treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
The valence rating in response to different emotional stimuli	The valence rating scores (1~9) were collected in response to neutral, positive or negative emotional pictures. The higher the score (5~9), the more positive the participants consider the picture to be; the lower the score (1~5), the more negative the participants consider the picture to be. The rating scores will be collected after fMRI scanning.	40 minutes
The intensity rating in response to different emotional stimuli	The intensity rating scores (1~9) were collected in response to neutral, positive or negative emotional pictures. The higher the score, the stronger the intensity level. The rating scores will be collected after fMRI scanning.	40 minutes
The arousal rating in response to different emotional stimuli	The arousal rating scores (1~9) were collected in response to neutral, positive or negative emotional pictures. The higher the score, the stronger the arousal level. The rating scores will be collected after fMRI scanning.	40 minutes
Resting-state fMRI	Subjects receive resting-state fMRI scanning before and after first task, with the sencond resting-state scan being mainly used as a break between the two tasks. The investigators will compare the resting-state functional connectivity (the amygdala as the seed region) among three groups.	17 minutes in total with each lasting around 8.5 minutes.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Shuxia Yao, Dr, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 24, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 15, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): April 15, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 28, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 20, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 23, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 23, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 20, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: oxytocin; vasoconstrictor; negative emotion
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Peptide Hormones; Peptides; Amino Acids, Peptides, and Proteins; Pharmacologic Actions; Chemical Actions and Uses; Therapeutic Uses; Pituitary Hormones, Posterior; Pituitary Hormones; Cardiovascular Agents; Oxytocin; Vasoconstrictor Agents; xylometazoline
• Other Study ID Numbers: UESTC-neuSCAN-106

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