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CompletedNCT02276677Updated Apr 8, 2019

Oxytocin Effects on Food Motivation Pathways

An Early Phase 1 interventional study of Oxytocin and Placebo in Overweight and Obesity, sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to male participants aged 18 Years to 45 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2019-04-08.

Sponsored by Massachusetts General Hospital · Early Phase 1, Interventional, and Other

Phase
Early Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
10
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 45 Years
Sex
Male
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Study summary

Oxytocin is a peptide hormone produced in the brain that regulates food intake. However, the mechanisms for this effect in humans is not yet clear.

In this study, the investigators will therefore examine the effect of a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (compared to placebo) on levels of appetite-regulating hormones and functional magnetic resonance imaging activation of areas of the brain involved in food motivation.

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Conditions studied

  • Overweight and Obesity
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In context

Overweight

3,767 studies on the registry are indexed under Overweight; 863 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 10 is below the median of 73 across 3,263 interventional studies indexed under Overweight.

Browse Overweight studies →

Lead sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital is the lead sponsor of 2,582 studies on the registry; 451 are open to participants now.

Of its 221 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 168 (76%) have results posted.

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Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

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Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 45 Years
Sexes eligible
Male
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Age 18-45 years old
  • BMI 25-40
  • Regular breakfast eater (at least 4 times per week)
  • Stable weight within the past three months

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychiatric disease, use of psychotropic medications
  • History of eating disorder
  • History of excessive exercise within the last three months (having run more that 25 miles in any one week or having exercised more than ten hours in any one week)
  • History of diabetes mellitus
  • Active substance abuse
  • Hematocrit lower than the normal range
  • Gastrointestinal tract surgery (including gastrectomy, gastric bypass surgery, and small or large bowel resection)
  • History of cardiovascular disease (such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, valvular heart disease, coronary heart disease, or coronary artery spasms)
  • Untreated thyroid disease
  • Tobacco use
  • Cardiac pacemaker, surgical aneurysm clips, neurostimulator, implanted pumps, metal fragments in body/eyes, nitroglycerin patch, severe claustrophobia
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Study design

Phase
Early Phase 1
Primary purpose
Other
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Crossover assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Care provider, Investigator)
Enrollment
10 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Oxytocin

    Oxytocin 24 IU x 1

    Drug: Oxytocin

  • Placebo comparator
    Placebo

    Placebo 24 IU x 1

    Drug: Placebo

Interventions

  • DrugOxytocin

    Single dose, intranasal

    Also known as: Syntocinon

  • DrugPlacebo

    Single dose, intranasal

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What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in functional magnetic resonance imaging activation of food motivation brain regions

    Time frame: Functional magnetic resonance imaging at T60 min after oxytocin/placebo

Secondary outcomes

  1. Change in hormone levels (cholecystokinin, glucagon-like peptide-1)

    Time frame: Blood draws at T0, T30, T60, T120 min after oxytocin/placebo

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Study locations

1 site
  • Massachusetts General Hospital
    Boston, Massachusetts 02114, United States
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References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

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Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 8, 2019, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02276677
Lead sponsor
Massachusetts General Hospital
Responsible party
Elizabeth Austen Lawson (Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 28, 2014
Start date
Oct 2014
Primary completion
May 2015
Completion
May 2015
Last update
Apr 8, 2019

Study contacts

Elizabeth A Lawson, MD, MMSc
principal investigator · Massachusetts General Hospital

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2019. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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