title: Intranasal Oxytocin Normalizes Amygdala Functional Connectivity in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
abstract: The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been suggested as a promising pharmacological agent for medication-enhanced psychotherapy in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of its anxiolytic and prosocial properties. We therefore investigated the behavioral and neurobiological effects of a single intranasal OT administration (40 IU) in PTSD patients. We conducted a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over resting-state fMRI study in male and female police officers with (n=37, 21 males) and without PTSD (n=40, 20 males). We investigated OT administration effects on subjective anxiety and functional connectivity of basolateral (BLA) and centromedial (CeM) amygdala subregions with prefrontal and salience processing areas. In PTSD patients, OT administration resulted in decreased subjective anxiety and nervousness. Under placebo, male PTSD patients showed diminished right CeM to left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) connectivity compared with male trauma-exposed controls, which was reinstated after OT administration. Additionally, female PTSD patients showed enhanced right BLA to bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) connectivity compared with female trauma-exposed controls, which was dampened after OT administration. Although caution is warranted, our findings tentatively suggest that OT has the potential to diminish anxiety and fear expression of the amygdala in PTSD, either via increased control of the vmPFC over the CeM (males) or via decreased salience processing of the dACC and BLA (females). Our findings add to accumulating evidence that OT administration could potentially enhance treatment response in PTSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|Brain Imaging Center, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Saskia B J
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Zuiden
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|Brain Imaging Center, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nawijn
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|Brain Imaging Center, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jessie L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Frijling
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Dick J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Veltman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.|Arq Psychotrauma Expert Center, Diemen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olff
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001007:Anxiety; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin