The link between oxytocin plasma levels and observed communication behaviors during sexual and nonsexual couple discussions: An exploratory study

Roels, Rick; Rehman, Uzma S.; Carter, C. Sue; Pournajafi-Nazarloo, Hossein; Janssen, Erick

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105265

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…The decision to measure these hormones without extraction was based on tests for parallelism, spike recovery, and cross-reactivity/ specificity validating the present study's EIA procedure and suggesting that EIA without extraction produces useful measurements of these hormones in human blood plasma (63,66). Although nonextracted samples yield higher concentrations than extracted samples (84), unextracted samples of OT and AVP are highly familial (42) and repeatedly relate to neurobehavioral outcomes (measured using behavioral tasks and neuroimaging) in our studies in healthy individuals as well as psychiatric populations (42)(43)(44)(85)(86)(87) and in studies conducted by others (88). Interesting, in a study using both methods, unextracted OT but not extracted OT related to social exclusion in young adults with a suicide attempt history (89).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Early life trauma and social processing in HIV: the role of neuroendocrine factors and inflammation

et al. 2022

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Objective: Early life trauma (ELT) and HIV are associated with social processing deficits. In people with HIV (PWH), we examined whether facial emotion identification accuracy differs by ELT and whether neuroendocrine factors including cortisol, oxytocin (OT), and arginine vasopressin, and/or immune system measures play a role in the ELT-performance association. Methods: We used secondary data from the placebo condition of a pharmacologic challenge study in PWH. Presence of ELT was measured with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (at least moderate experiences of sexual, physical, and/or emotional abuse). Social processing was measured with the Facial Emotion Perception Test (FEPT). Salivary immune system measures and cortisol were sampled across a 5-hour study session. Blood was collected at study session start (12 PM) to measure OT and arginine vasopressin. We examined the association of ELT with FEPT and five biological moderators (from principal components analysis of 12 biomarkers) of ELT-FEPT associations. Results: Of 58 PWH (42 men; mean [standard deviation] age = 33.7 [8.9] years), 50% endorsed ELT. ELT-exposed PWH demonstrated lower identification accuracy across all emotional expressions (unstandardized β [B] = 0.13; standard error [SE] = 0.05; p = .021, d = 0.63) and had higher OT levels compared with ELT-unexposed PWH (t (1,56) = 2.12, p = .039; d = 0.57). For total accuracy, an OT/C-reactive protein factor moderated the ELT-FEPT association (B = 0.14; SE = 0.05; p = .014); accuracy was lower in ELT-exposed PWH versus ELT-unexposed PWH when the factor was low but not when high. Similar results were obtained for fearful, neutral, and happy faces ( p values < .05). Regardless of ELT, a myeloid migration (MCP-1/MMP-9) factor was associated with reduced accuracy ( p values < .05). Conclusions: Our pilot findings suggest that ELT may alter social processing in PWH, and OT and C-reactive protein may be a target for improving social processing in ELT-exposed PWH, and myeloid migration markers may be a target in PWH more generally.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Early life trauma and social processing in HIV: the role of neuroendocrine factors and inflammation

et al. 2022

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“…Plasma OT was assayed without extraction using an Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA) purchased from Enzo LifeSciences, Inc. (Farmingdale, New York). While unextracted samples yield higher concentrations than extracted samples, unextracted samples provide accurate assessments of OT in human blood plasma (Carter et al., 2007; MacLean et al., 2019) that are more likely to be correlated with measures of behavior; this has been found in our laboratory (Roels et al., 2021) and in those of other scientists (Chu et al., 2020; Saxbe et al., 2019). For further details on the decision to not use extraction see Ebner et al.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 57%

Associations between alcohol use and peripheral, genetic, and epigenetic markers of oxytocin in a general sample of young and older adults

et al. 2022

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Introduction: Human and nonhuman animal research suggests that greater oxytocin (OT) activity is protective against harmful substance use. Most research on this topic is preclinical, with few studies evaluating the association between substance use and individual differences in the human OT system. The present study sought to fill this gap by evaluating the relationship between alcohol use and multiple biological measures of OT activity in an overall low to moderate-drinking sample. Method:As part of a larger study, generally healthy young (n = 51) and older (n = 53) adults self-reported whether they regularly used alcohol and how much alcohol they consumed per week. Participants also provided blood samples from which peripheral OT, and in an age-heterogeneous subset of participants (n = 56) variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (the OXTR rs53576 polymorphism) and OXTR DNA methylation levels (at cytosine-guanine dinucleotide sites -860, -924, -934), were obtained.Results: A-allele carriers of the OXTR rs53579 polymorphism were less likely to regularly consume alcohol. Among regular alcohol consumers, number of alcoholic drinks per week was positively associated with peripheral OT in regression models excluding observations of high influence (postdiagnostic models). Number of alcoholic drinks per week was consistently negatively associated with OXTR DNA methylation at site -860; and with OXTR DNA methylation at site -924 in postdiagnostic models.

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“…What exactly happens to oxytocin during “extraction” is still not clear. Despite this chaotic situation, and even without an extraction, we and many others have detected functional associations between oxytocin and behavioral measures in hundreds of studies [ [63] , [64] , [65] ]. In one recent study we assayed oxytocin in individuals diagnosed with severe and chronic PTSD compared to healthy people exposed to acute stressors (Horn, Carter et al, in preparation).…”

Section: Chasing the Elusive Oxytocin Moleculementioning

confidence: 93%

Close encounters with oxytocin

Carter

2023

Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology

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The link between oxytocin plasma levels and observed communication behaviors during sexual and nonsexual couple discussions: An exploratory study

Cited by 10 publications

References 64 publications

Early life trauma and social processing in HIV: the role of neuroendocrine factors and inflammation

Early life trauma and social processing in HIV: the role of neuroendocrine factors and inflammation

Associations between alcohol use and peripheral, genetic, and epigenetic markers of oxytocin in a general sample of young and older adults

Close encounters with oxytocin

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