Integrative Approaches Utilizing Oxytocin to Enhance Prosocial Behavior: From Animal and Human Social Behavior to Autistic Social Dysfunction

Yamasue, Hidenori; Yee, Jason R.; Hurlemann, René; Rilling, James K.; Chen, Frances S.; Meyer‐Lindenberg, Andreas; Tost, Heike

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3327-12.2012

Cited by 129 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 155 publications

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“…Importantly, oxytocin has also been convincingly linked with protection from obesity [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. While the nonapeptide oxytocin is historically recognized for its role in parturition [24] and lactation [25] it has gained more recent attention for its apparent effects on prosocial behavior [26,27] and therapeutic potential in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) [26,27], schizophrenia [26,28] and obesity [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. A large number of ongoing investigations in humans list oxytocin as the focus in studies on caloric intake, gastric emptying, or obesity, as displayed in the ClinicalTrials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beneficial Dog Bacteria Up-Regulate Oxytocin and Lower Risk of Obesity

Varian¹,

Levkovich²,

Poutahidis³

et al. 2017

J Prob Health

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AnimalsC57BL/6 wild type (wt), oxytocin-wt (oxt-wt) and oxytocin- AbstractCohabitation with pet dogs imparts diverse health benefits to humans including a slim physique. It is known that neuropeptide hormone oxytocin fundamental in human-canine social bonds regulates appetite and body weight. It was recently shown in mice that consuming Lactobacillus reuteri ATCC 6475 from human breast milk lowers body weight and up-regulates oxytocin levels in blood. Here we test the hypothesis that bacteria from dog saliva may similarly modulate recipient host body weight. We find that a Lactobacillus spp isolate from dog saliva led to lower body weight when fed to C57BL/6 wild type mice. Mice consuming the canineborne L. reuteri also had elevated oxytocin levels in blood plasma, and exhibited body weight in an oxytocin-dependent manner. Interestingly, killed (lysed) canine bacteria were sufficient to achieve the physiological effects. Taken together, these studies provide evidence that dog bacteria modulate oxytocin levels and body weight in recipient mice, and thus may help reduce risk of obesity in individuals cohabitating with pet dogs. knockout (oxt-ko) B6; 129S-Oxttm1Wsy/J mice (purchased initially from Jackson labs; Bar Harbor, ME) were used in three separate experiments (Figure 1). Mice were housed and handled in Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC)-accredited facilities using techniques and diets including Lactobacillus reuteri as specifically approved by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Committee on Animal Care (CAC). Mice were housed under standard 12:12 light cycle conditions with lights on at 7 AM. Mice were fed a standard control chow Purina RMH3000. Beneficial Dog Bacteria Up-Regulate Oxytocin and Lower Risk of ObesityMice were bred in-house to achieve experimental groups. Each experiment included 5-15 animals per group with one or two replications (total N=10-30 mice examined per group) unless otherwise specified. For the initial studies, C57BL/6 wt mice received Lactobacillus reuteri 2546 isolated from dog saliva. To test putative roles for microbeinduced oxytocin in obesity, oxt-ko mice and their oxt-wt littermates entered experiments at eight weeks of age. At the conclusion of the study mice were euthanized with CO 2 overdose, and were examined as described below. Eight pet dogs served as saliva microbe donors as approved by the MIT-CAC. Saliva was collected from these dogs in the morning before feeding using sterile swabs [Puritan Sterile Polyester Tipped applicators Guilford, Me Ref: 25-806 1PD] in 1.5 ml centrifuge tubes (Safeseal Microcentrifuge Tubes, Sorenson Bioscience Inc. Salt Lace City, UT Cat# 16070). Bacteria were purified from dog saliva as described in detail below. PCR of dog saliva for all Lactobacillus speciesSaliva was collected from eight pet dogs and prepared using High Pure PCR Template kit (Roche Diagnostics) was used without changes to the manufacturer's directions to isolate DNA from the canine saliva. DNA was measured using Nan...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beneficial Dog Bacteria Up-Regulate Oxytocin and Lower Risk of Obesity

Varian¹,

Levkovich²,

Poutahidis³

et al. 2017

J Prob Health

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“…Medical crews during operation, soldiers in battle, or firefighters saving captives from flames-groups highly trained for coordinated performance-synchronize action within split seconds, and this ability has played a key evolutionary role in increasing the survival of our species under harsh conditions (Feldman, 2012;Yamasue et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oxytocin selectively modulates brain response to stimuli probing social synchrony

Lévy¹,

Goldstein²,

Zagoory‐Sharon³

et al. 2016

NeuroImage

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“…19,50-52 In addition, previous fMRI studies of TD participants have suggested that oxytocin's functional effects are observed particularly in regional activity and functional connectivity among the brain regions related to social cognition. 23 Considering these microscopic and mesoscopic findings, changes in activity and connectivity related to the mPFC may be an endophenotype that links oxytocin's behavioral effects with its influences on cellular and molecular systems.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mitigation of Sociocommunicational Deficits of Autism Through Oxytocin-Induced Recovery of Medial Prefrontal Activity

et al. 2014

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IMPORTANCE Sociocommunicational deficits make it difficult for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to understand communication content with conflicting verbal and nonverbal information. Despite growing prospects for oxytocin as a therapeutic agent for ASD, no direct neurobiological evidence exists for oxytocin's beneficial effects on this core symptom of ASD. This is slowing clinical application of the neuropeptide.OBJECTIVE To directly examine whether oxytocin has beneficial effects on the sociocommunicational deficits of ASD using both behavioral and neural measures. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS At the University of Tokyo Hospital, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject-crossover, single-site experimental trial in which intranasal oxytocin and placebo were administered. A total of 40 highly functioning men with ASD participated and were randomized in the trial.INTERVENTIONS Single-dose intranasal administration of oxytocin (24 IU) and placebo. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURESUsing functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined effects of oxytocin on behavioral neural responses of the participants to a social psychological task. In our previous case-control study using the same psychological task, when making decisions about social information with conflicting verbal and nonverbal contents, participants with ASD made judgments based on nonverbal contents less frequently with longer time and could not induce enough activation in the medial prefrontal cortex. Therefore, our main outcomes and measures were the frequency of the nonverbal information-based judgments (NVJs), the response time for NVJs, and brain activity of the medial prefrontal cortex during NVJs. RESULTSIntranasal oxytocin enabled the participants to make NVJs more frequently (P = .03) with shorter response time (P = .02). During the mitigated behavior, oxytocin increased the originally diminished brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (P < .001). Moreover, oxytocin enhanced functional coordination in the area (P < .001), and the magnitude of these neural effects was predictive of the behavioral effects (P Յ .01). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCEThese findings provide the first neurobiological evidence for oxytocin's beneficial effects on sociocommunicational deficits of ASD and give us the initial account for neurobiological mechanisms underlying any beneficial effects of the neuropeptide.TRIAL REGISTRATION umin.ac.jp/ctr Identifier: UMIN000002241 and UMIN000004393

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Integrative Approaches Utilizing Oxytocin to Enhance Prosocial Behavior: From Animal and Human Social Behavior to Autistic Social Dysfunction

Cited by 129 publications

References 155 publications

Beneficial Dog Bacteria Up-Regulate Oxytocin and Lower Risk of Obesity

Beneficial Dog Bacteria Up-Regulate Oxytocin and Lower Risk of Obesity

Oxytocin selectively modulates brain response to stimuli probing social synchrony

Mitigation of Sociocommunicational Deficits of Autism Through Oxytocin-Induced Recovery of Medial Prefrontal Activity

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