Investigating resting brain perfusion abnormalities and disease target-engagement by intranasal oxytocin in women with bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder and healthy controls

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Oxytocin.

The researchers tested for effects of treatment, diagnosis and their interaction on extracted rCBF values in anatomical regions-of-interest previously implicated in BN/BED by other neuroimaging modalities, and conducted exploratory whole-brain analyses to investigate previously unidentified brain regions.

Why It Was Studied

Advances in the treatment of bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder (BN/BED) have been marred by their limited understanding of the underpinning neurobiology.

Here the researchers measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) to map resting perfusion abnormalities in women with BN/BED compared with healthy controls and investigate whether intranasal oxytocin (OT), proposed as a potential treatment, can restore perfusion in disorder-related brain circuits.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 23 women were involved.

PubMed tags the participants as both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The women were allocated by chance, so the Oxytocin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind Oxytocin study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Oxytocin group a baseline to be compared against.

In the crossover set-up each of the women took both Oxytocin and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

Here the researchers measured regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) to map resting perfusion abnormalities in women with BN/BED compared with healthy controls and investigate whether intranasal oxytocin (OT), proposed as a potential treatment, can restore perfusion in disorder-related brain circuits.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Binge-Eating Disorder, Brain, Bulimia Nervosa, Oxytocin and Perfusion.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in 23 women.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The publication is from 2020 (Translational psychiatry), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.