An interventional study of Oxytocin in Schizophrenia, sponsored by University of Maryland, Baltimore. Withdrawn at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 55 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-08-19.
Sponsored by University of Maryland, Baltimore · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
The purpose of this study is to assess how oxytocin delivered intranasally changes regional brain blood flow measured by positron emission tomography (PET) in conjunction with oxygen-15 labeled water in persons with schizophrenia. The objective is to better our understanding of oxytocin's role in the modulation of social judgment in schizophrenia and provide more information as to potential uses of oxytocin or a similar drug analog in treating certain features of schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders.
Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating psychiatric disorder that afflicts approximately 1% of the population (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) and is a serious public health problem. The specific mechanism of schizophrenia remains unknown. Affective responsivity and adaptive social behaviors are fundamental impairments in people with schizophrenia. These features have a detrimental impact on function in many areas of daily life. Unfortunately, the brain mechanisms that underlie these problems are still not understood. This study will use positron emission tomography (PET) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measures to ascertain the timing (1.5 hour period) of OT action on absolute regional brain activity in schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy control (HC) subjects. Particular focus will be on the amygdala, ventral striatum, anterior hippocampus and hypothalamus (neural regions involved in affliative behavior). Subjects will be studied with intranasally administered oxytocin and placebo while at rest and while making judgments about emotional faces. This approach will tell us to what extent the amygdala and limbic system's physiological response to oxytocin is predictive of a subject's behavioral sensitivity to this neuropeptide. The elucidation of this information may have a significant impact on predicting functional outcome and novel drug treatments in schizophrenia.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies show that oxytocin modulates the amygdala's response during social and emotional decisions. When administered intranasally, OT may be beneficial for the treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia by enhancing a person's affiliative behavior and diminishing distrust. It is not, however, known to what extent intranasal oxytocin modifies regional neurotransmission and human brain metabolism. There are at present no studies in animals or humans specifically examining the time course action of OT on whole brain activity.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Subjects will be randomly assigned to either OT-Placebo or Placebo-OT order for PET scan drug administration and will receive the first of the two intranasal doses at Pet scan 1 and the second intranasal dose of the subsequent treatment at Pet Scan 2
Drug: Oxytocin
Subjects will be randomly assigned to either OT-Placebo or Placebo-OT order for PET scan drug administration and will receive the first of the two intranasal doses at Pet scan 1 and the second intranasal dose of the subsequent treatment at Pet Scan 2
Also known as: Syntocinon
Oxytocin induced rCBF changes
Oxytocin induced rCBF changes in the amygdala, ventral striatum, hypothalamus and anterior hippocampus (post-drug versus pre-drug, resting and task conditions
Time frame: 2 years
This study is withdrawn, as verified in Aug 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Maryland, Baltimore