Do we need oxytocin to treat schizophrenia? A randomized clinical trial

Dagani, Jessica; Sisti, Davide; Abelli, Marianna; Paolo, Luca Di; Pini, Stefano; Raimondi, Sara; Rocchi, Marco; Saviotti, Francesco M.; Scocco, Paolo; Totaro, Stefano; Balestrieri, Matteo; Girolamo, Giovanni de

doi:10.1016/j.schres.2016.02.011

Cited by 38 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Brambilla et al (2016), notably, did observe decreased reaction times for facial affect recognition using an Emotional Priming Paradigm (EPP) in their longitudinal study (see Dagani et al, (2016)), though there were no changes in implicit emotional priming effects or for the differences between emotional categories. Gibson et al (2014) included additional social cue perception tasks in their study: the Emotion Recognition 40 (ER-40) (Kohler et al, 2004), and a trustworthiness task (Adolphs et al, 1998).…”

Section: Oxytocin Effects On Social Cognitive Deficits In Schizophmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Significant heterogeneity among studies was noted, however, and the authors emphasized the need for further work. Dagani et al (2016) subsequently conducted the longest trial to date, an 8-month within-subject study in 32 outpatients with a relatively short duration of illness (<11 years). They found no treatment effects on negative or positive symptoms.…”

Section: Oxytocin Effects On Positive and Negative Symptoms Of Schmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Of the trials assessing oxytocin effects on symptoms, some reported significant oxytocin-induced improvements on negative symptom scales (Feifel et al, 2010; Gibson et al, 2014; Modabbernia et al, 2013b) while others found an ambiguous effect or none at all (Cacciotti-Saija et al, 2015; Dagani et al, 2016; M. C. Davis et al, 2014a; Lee et al, 2013; Pedersen et al, 2011b).…”

Section: Oxytocin Effects On Other Deficits In Schizophreniamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxytocin effects in schizophrenia: Reconciling mixed findings and moving forward

Bradley

Woolley

2017

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that causes major functional impairment. Current pharmacologic treatments are inadequate, particularly for addressing negative and cognitive symptoms of the disorder. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide known to moderate social behaviors, has been investigated as a potential therapeutic for schizophrenia in recent years. Results have been decidedly mixed, leading to controversy regarding oxytocin's utility. In this review, we outline several considerations for interpreting the extant literature and propose a focused agenda for future work that builds on the most compelling findings regarding oxytocin effects in schizophrenia to date. Specifically, we examine underlying causes of heterogeneity in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) conducted thus far and highlight the complexity of the human oxytocin system. We then review evidence of oxytocin's effects on specific deficits in schizophrenia, arguing for further study using objective, precise outcome measures in order to determine whether oxytocin has the potential to improve functional impairment in schizophrenia.

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Section: Oxytocin Effects On Social Cognitive Deficits In Schizophmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Oxytocin Effects On Positive and Negative Symptoms Of Schmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Oxytocin Effects On Other Deficits In Schizophreniamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oxytocin effects in schizophrenia: Reconciling mixed findings and moving forward

Bradley

Woolley

2017

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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“…A recent OXT acute dose/response (8-84 IU) study in schizophrenia using neurophysiological (EEG) measurements of social processing has suggested that OXT would produce biological effects in an inverted U-shaped manner, where only mid-range doses produce an effect (54). Besides, the majority of clinical trials administered an acute, single-dose OXT, and there are very limited studies investigating the effects of chronic OXT administration over a period of several months (55,56).…”

Section: Dosingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin as Treatment for Social Cognition, Not There Yet

Erdozain¹,

Peñagarikano²

2020

Front. Psychiatry

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In a short time, oxytocin has progressed from being a regular hormone involved in parturition and breastfeeding to be possibly the neuromodulator that has gathered the most attention. Attributed many positive roles in the modulation of different aspects of social behavior, such as bonding, empathy, cooperation, trust, and generosity, as well as roles as a natural anxiolytic and antidepressant, the expectations on oxytocin becoming a treatment for a number of disorders with associated social deficits have dramatically raised over the last years. However, despite the field has been investigating oxytocin's role in social behavior for over twenty years, there are still many unknowns on oxytocin's mechanisms of action and efficiency and the increasing number of clinical trials administering oxytocin to different clinical groups seem to disagree in its properties and report in most cases conflicting results. This has led to some disappointment among researchers and clinicians as oxytocin might not be the miraculous molecule that works in a "one size fits all" fashion initially considered. Conversely, this down-side of oxytocin might merely reflect the complexity of its neurotransmission system. The current reality is that, although oxytocin seems to have potential therapeutic value, there are key questions that remain unanswered as to decide the optimal target groups and treatment course. Here, we present an overview on critical points regarding the oxytocin system in health and disease that need to be better understood to establish its therapeutic properties and to decide who could benefit the most from its treatment.

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“… 6–8 In regard to negative symptoms, results have been variable with null results as well as intriguing findings of improvement in negative symptoms. 9–12 A meta-analysis of 7 randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies concluded that for negative symptoms, oxytocin was no different from placebo; however, oxytocin emerged as possibly superior to placebo when focusing on studies with daily administration. 13 A more recent meta-analysis of 8 RCTs concluded that oxytocin does not improve negative symptoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Randomized Clinical Trial of Oxytocin or Galantamine in Schizophrenia: Assessing the Impact on Behavioral, Lexical, and Self-Report Indicators of Social Affiliation

Dwyer

Andrea

Savage

et al. 2020

Schizophrenia Bulletin Open

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Prior studies examining the impact of oxytocin on negative symptoms in schizophrenia have yielded mixed results. The current study explored whether oxytocin can improve more proximal indicators of social affiliation as indicated by changes in behavior, language and subjective indices of social affiliation among individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders during a role-play designed to elicit affiliative responses. We tested the hypothesis that daily intranasal oxytocin administered for 6 weeks would improve social affiliation as manifested by increased social skill ratings, use of positive, affiliative, and social words, and subjective responses from a previously published randomized controlled trial. Forty outpatients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were randomized to the oxytocin, galantamine, or placebo group and completed affiliative role-plays and self-report questionnaires of affect, reactions to the affiliative confederate, and willingness to interact at baseline and post-treatment. Results demonstrated that oxytocin was not effective at improving behavioral or subjective indicators of social affiliation. This study adds to a growing literature that the prosocial effects of oxytocin in schizophrenia are limited or null.

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Do we need oxytocin to treat schizophrenia? A randomized clinical trial

Cited by 38 publications

References 33 publications

Oxytocin effects in schizophrenia: Reconciling mixed findings and moving forward

Oxytocin effects in schizophrenia: Reconciling mixed findings and moving forward

Oxytocin as Treatment for Social Cognition, Not There Yet

A Randomized Clinical Trial of Oxytocin or Galantamine in Schizophrenia: Assessing the Impact on Behavioral, Lexical, and Self-Report Indicators of Social Affiliation

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