Oxytocin increases amygdala reactivity to threatening scenes in females

Lischke, Alexander; Gamer, Matthias; Berger, Christoph; Großmann, Annette; Hauenstein, Karlheinz; Heinrichs, Markus; Herpertz, Sabine C.; Domes, Gregor

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.01.011

Cited by 179 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…brain (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27), we focused, in a first analysis, on potential effects of OXT treatment on functional connectivity of the amygdala using a generalized form of context-dependent psychophysiological interactions (gPPIs) analysis (36). Our results showed that OXT reduced functional coupling between the left amygdala and left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) [t (68) = 4.35, P FWE < 0.05, MNI: x = −4, y = 26, z = 14] for all stimuli regardless of valence.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males

Striepens

Scheele

Kendrick

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

235

190

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The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) can enhance the impact of positive social cues but may reduce that of negative ones by inhibiting amygdala activation, although it is unclear whether the latter causes blunted emotional and mnemonic responses. In two independent double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, each involving over 70 healthy male subjects, we investigated whether OXT affects modulation of startle reactivity by aversive social stimuli as well as subsequent memory for them. Intranasal OXT potentiated acoustic startle responses to negative stimuli, without affecting behavioral valence or arousal judgments, and biased subsequent memory toward negative rather than neutral items. A functional MRI analysis of this mnemonic effect revealed that, whereas OXT inhibited amygdala responses to negative stimuli, it facilitated left insula responses for subsequently remembered items and increased functional coupling between the left amygdala, left anterior insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus. Our results therefore show that OXT can potentiate the protective and mnemonic impact of aversive social information despite reducing amygdala activity, and suggest that the insula may play a role in emotional modulation of memory. (5), social recognition (6-8) and related memory (9-11), social reinforcement learning and emotional empathy (12), and social judgments (13)(14)(15).This prosocial perspective on OXT is challenged, however, by evidence that OXT also enhances envy and schadenfreude (gloating) (16), ethno-centrism (including prejudice, xenophobia, and racial bias) (4), and outgroup derogation (17). Moreover, OXT hinders trust and cooperation when social information about interaction partners is lacking (18). Furthermore, OXT appears to negatively bias recollections of maternal care and closeness and to diminish trust and cooperation in insecurely or anxiously attached individuals (19,20).In an attempt to reconcile this controversial evidence, it has been proposed that the social effects of OXT could be mediated by reduced anxiety or by an increased perceptual salience of social cues (21). The anxiolytic action of OXT has been confirmed by showing reduced amygdala responses to aversive social stimuli in healthy people (22-25; but see also refs. 26 and 27), and subjects with social phobia (28). It is compatible with decreased endocrine and subjective responses to social stress (29), as well as reduced negative cognitive self-appraisal in individuals scoring high in traitanxiety (30). In contrast, the social salience hypothesis has gained substantial support from studies demonstrating increased eye contact (31) and improved mind-reading from facial expressions (32) as a result of OXT treatment. Whether these mechanisms quintessentially yield positive or negative social outcomes may vary depending on contextual or person-specific characteristics (21). An alternative view holds that emotional valence may be the key in guiding the social effects of OXT, with it facilitating social approach to positive cues and inhibiting...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males

Striepens

Scheele

Kendrick

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

235

190

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Although OT administration has predominantly been found to dampen amygdala reactivity (eg, Domes et al, 2007;Kirsch et al, 2005;Petrovic et al, 2008), increased amygdala reactivity has also been observed after OT administration. OT administration resulted in enhanced amygdala reactivity toward happy faces in healthy males (Gamer et al, 2010), and toward fearful (Domes et al, 2010) and angry faces (Bertsch et al, 2013) and threatening scenes (Lischke et al, 2012) in healthy females. In addition, increased amygdala reactivity toward neutral faces was observed after OT administration in male patients with Asperger's syndrome (Domes et al, 2013(Domes et al, , 2014.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Intranasal Oxytocin Administration Dampens Amygdala Reactivity towards Emotional Faces in Male and Female PTSD Patients

Koch

Zuiden

Nawijn

et al. 2015

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disabling psychiatric disorder. As a substantial part of PTSD patients responds poorly to currently available psychotherapies, pharmacological interventions boosting treatment response are needed. Because of its anxiolytic and pro-social properties, the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been proposed as promising strategy for treatment augmentation in PTSD. As a first step to investigate the therapeutic potential of OT in PTSD, we conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over functional MRI study examining OT administration effects (40 IU) on amygdala reactivity toward emotional faces in unmedicated male and female police officers with (n = 37, 21 males) and without (n = 40, 20 males) PTSD. Trauma-exposed controls were matched to PTSD patients based on age, sex, years of service and educational level. Under placebo, the expected valence-dependent amygdala reactivity (ie, greater activity toward fearful-angry faces compared with happy-neutral faces) was absent in PTSD patients. OT administration dampened amygdala reactivity toward all emotional faces in male and female PTSD patients, but enhanced amygdala reactivity in healthy male and female traumaexposed controls, independent of sex and stimulus valence. In PTSD patients, greater anxiety prior to scanning and amygdala reactivity during the placebo session were associated with greater reduction of amygdala reactivity after OT administration. Taken together, our results indicate presumably beneficial neurobiological effects of OT administration in male and female PTSD patients. Future studies should investigate OT administration in clinical settings to fully appreciate its therapeutic potential.

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“…We included both sexes to investigate possible sex differential effects of OT administration. This may be relevant as amygdala reactivity toward socially and non-socially threatening scenes was enhanced after OT administration in healthy females (Lischke et al, 2012), in contrast to the amygdala-dampening effects of OT administration observed in healthy males in response to comparable stimuli (Kirsch et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Intranasal Oxytocin Normalizes Amygdala Functional Connectivity in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Koch

Zuiden

Nawijn

et al. 2016

Neuropsychopharmacol

125

106

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The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been suggested as a promising pharmacological agent for medication-enhanced psychotherapy in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of its anxiolytic and prosocial properties. We therefore investigated the behavioral and neurobiological effects of a single intranasal OT administration (40 IU) in PTSD patients. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over resting-state fMRI study in male and female police officers with (n = 37, 21 males) and without PTSD (n = 40, 20 males). We investigated OT administration effects on subjective anxiety and functional connectivity of basolateral (BLA) and centromedial (CeM) amygdala subregions with prefrontal and salience processing areas. In PTSD patients, OT administration resulted in decreased subjective anxiety and nervousness. Under placebo, male PTSD patients showed diminished right CeM to left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) connectivity compared with male trauma-exposed controls, which was reinstated after OT administration. Additionally, female PTSD patients showed enhanced right BLA to bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) connectivity compared with female trauma-exposed controls, which was dampened after OT administration. Although caution is warranted, our findings tentatively suggest that OT has the potential to diminish anxiety and fear expression of the amygdala in PTSD, either via increased control of the vmPFC over the CeM (males) or via decreased salience processing of the dACC and BLA (females). Our findings add to accumulating evidence that OT administration could potentially enhance treatment response in PTSD.

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Oxytocin increases amygdala reactivity to threatening scenes in females

Cited by 179 publications

References 42 publications

Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males

Oxytocin facilitates protective responses to aversive social stimuli in males

Intranasal Oxytocin Administration Dampens Amygdala Reactivity towards Emotional Faces in Male and Female PTSD Patients

Intranasal Oxytocin Normalizes Amygdala Functional Connectivity in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

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