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

Mental Health Wellness 1 Clinical Trial

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03085628
• Other study ID #: UESTC-neuSCAN-08
• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• First received: March 2, 2017
• Last updated: February 6, 2018
• Start date: July 2016
• Est. completion date: December 2018

Study information

• Verified date: February 2018
• Source: University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
• Contact: Keith Kendrick, Dr
• Email: kkendrick[@]uestc.edu.cn
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

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).

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 252
• Est. completion date: December 2018
• Est. primary completion date: August 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 17 Years to 30 Years

Eligibility

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emotion
• Mental Health Wellness 1
• Social Behavior

Intervention

Drug:
• Oxytocin
40IU
• Placebo
40IU

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
China	school of life science and technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China	Chengdu	Sichuan

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Country where clinical trial is conducted

China, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	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
Primary	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
Primary	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	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
Secondary	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
Secondary	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
Secondary	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
Secondary	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