title: Investigation of Oxytocin Secretion in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: Relationships to Temperament Personality Dimensions.
abstract: Published studies suggested an implication of oxytocin in some temperament characteristics of personality. Therefore, we measured oxytocin secretion in 23 women with anorexia nervosa (AN), 27 with bulimia nervosa (BN) and 19 healthy controls and explored the relationships between circulating oxytocin and patients' personality traits. Plasma oxytocin levels were significantly reduced in AN women but not in BN ones. In healthy women, the attachment subscale scores of the reward dependence temperament and the harm avoidance (HA) scores explained 82% of the variability in circulating oxytocin. In BN patients, plasma oxytocin resulted to be negatively correlated with HA, whereas no significant correlations emerged in AN patients. These findings confirm a dysregulation of oxytocin production in AN but not in BN and show, for the first time, a disruption of the associations between hormone levels and patients' temperament traits, which may have a role in certain deranged behaviours of eating disorder patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessio Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Monteleone
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scognamiglio
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Volpe
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Maso
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Naples, Italy.|Neurosciences Section, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy.
authors.forename: Palmiero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Monteleone
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; oxytocin; temperament