title: Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Long-Term Memory in Healthy Humans: A Systematic Review.
abstract: Preclinical Research The neuropeptide oxytocin (Oxt) is implicated in complex emotional and social behaviors and appears to play an important role in learning and memory. Animal studies have shown that the effects of exogenous Oxt on memory vary according to the timing of administration, context, gender, and dose and may improve the memory of social, but not nonsocial stimuli. Oxt is intimately involved in a broad array of neuropsychiatric functions and may therefore be a pharmacological target for several psychiatric disorders. This review summarizes the potential effects of Oxt on long-term memory processes in healthy humans based on a PubMed search over the period 1980-2016. The effects of intranasal Oxt on human memory are controversial and the studies included in this review have applied a variety of learning paradigms, in turn producing variable outcomes. Specifically, data on the long-term memory of nonemotional stimuli found no effect or even worsening in memory, while studies using emotional stimuli showed an improvement of long-term memory performance. In conclusion, this review identified a link between long-term memory performance and exogenous intranasal Oxt in humans, although these results still warrant further confirmation in large, multicenter randomized controlled trials. Drug Dev Res 77 : 479-488, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Saint John of God Clinical Research Centre, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Saint John of God Clinical Research Centre, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Manenti
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Epidemiology and Evaluation Unit, IRCCS Saint John of God Clinical Research Centre, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Girolamo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|Center for Cognitive Science, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.|Neuroscience Institute of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Adenzato
authors.affiliation: Genetics Unit, IRCCS Saint John of God Clinical Research Centre, Brescia, Italy.|Faculty of Psychology, eCampus University, Novedrate (Como), Italy.
authors.forename: Luisella
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bocchio-Chiavetto
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychology Unit, IRCCS Saint John of God Clinical Research Centre, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cotelli
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D006801:Humans; D057567:Memory, Long-Term / Q000187:drug effects*; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D013315:Stress, Psychological
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: encoding; endogenous oxytocin; learning; recall; recognition