title: Oxytocin reduces amygdala responses during threat approach.
abstract: Oxytocin reduces amygdala responses to threatening social stimuli in males and has been suggested to facilitate approach-related processing by either decreasing anxiety or intensifying salience. The current administration study tested whether oxytocin either reduces or enhances amygdala responses during threat approach in a placebo-controlled randomized, double-blind, between-subjects design with 52 healthy males undergoing fMRI during a social approach-avoidance task. Oxytocin decreased amygdala activation during threat approach and not during threat avoidance. This neural effect supports oxytocin's social anxiolytic effects and provides a neuroendocrine mechanism promoting social approach. The findings may yield clinical implications for individuals suffering from dysregulations of social approach such as patients with anxiety disorders.
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; RWTH Aachen University, Medical Faculty, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics & Jülich Aachen Research Alliance (JARA) - BRAIN Institute Brain Structure-Function Relationships: Decoding the Human Brain at Systemic Levels, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH and RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstr. 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany. Electronic address: sradke@ukaachen.de.
authors.forename: Sina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Radke
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands; University College London, Sobell Department for Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1E 6 BT, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Inge
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Volman
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Idil
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kokal
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Radboud University Nijmegen, Behavioural Science Institute, P.O. Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Roelofs
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Department of Clinical Psychology and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ellen R A
authors.initials: ERA
authors.lastname: de Bruijn
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Toni
mesh_terms: D000281:Administration, Intranasal; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000187:drug effects*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects*; D005149:Facial Expression; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012919:Social Behavior; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010121:Oxytocin
keywords: Amygdala; Emotion; Motivation; Oxytocin; Social approach; fMRI