Intranasal oxytocin administration impacts the acquisition and consolidation of trauma-associated memories: a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled experimental study in healthy women

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Oxytocin in this randomized controlled trial publication.

The researchers used a "general random forest" machine learning approach to examine whether differences in the noradrenergic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, polygenic risk for psychiatric disorders, and genetic polymorphism of the oxytocin receptor influence the effect of oxytocin on the acquisition and consolidation of intrusive memories.

Why It Was Studied

Intrusive memories are a hallmark symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and oxytocin has been implicated in the formation of intrusive memories.

This study investigates how oxytocin influences the acquisition and consolidation of trauma-associated memories and whether these effects are influenced by individual neurobiological and genetic differences.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 220 women taking part.

PubMed tags the participants as women only.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

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.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Oxytocin could be set against what happens without it.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Major Depressive Disorder, Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System, Memory, Oxytocin, Pituitary-Adrenal System and Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Oxytocin in 220 women.

The publication is from 2022 (Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology), a journal based in England.

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