Pitocin is a prescription injectable medication containing oxytocin, used to induce or strengthen labor by stimulating uterine contractions. It is administered intravenously and manufactured by Endo USA, Inc. This information was generated using AI and is provided for informational and research purposes only.

This study examined oxytocin expression in experimental models of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and evaluated the therapeutic potential of treatment with oxytocin. They investigated changes in oxytocin expression in APP/PS1 mouse model and developed a chronic intranasal treatment protocol to increase oxytocin levels in the brain. Then, tested oxytocin as a potential approach to attenuate microglial activation and reverse memory deficits. This dataset includes source data used to assemble different figures in the publication. The source data contains data about hypothalamic expression of oxytocin is reduced in AD models, chronic intranasal administration of oxytocin increases hippocampal oxytocin and attenuates fear response in mice, cellular and molecular impact of intranasal oxytocin in APP/PS1 mouse brains, oxytocin attenuates AβO-induced microglial activation in vitro, and intranasal oxytocin reverses social and non-social memory deficits in aged APP/PS1 mice.

The Oxytocin Market Report is Segmented by Indication (Antepartum, Postpartum), Route of Administration (Parenteral, Intranasal, Oromucosal), Distribution Channel (Hospital Pharmacies, Retail Pharmacies, Online Pharmacies), and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, South America). The Market Forecasts are Provided in Terms of Value (USD).

The dataset contains the files (DARE_Workfile, Empathy_Workfile) used for the analyses of the study published by Fragkaki and Cima (2019) in Psychoneuroendocrinology. The study examined the effect of oxytocin administration on empathy and emotion recognition in 100 male adolescents living in residential youth care facilities. The study had a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject design. The study included 3 sessions: screening session and two experimental sessions. In the experimental sessions, the participants received oxytocin in one session and placebo in the other session and performed the same experimental tasks on empathy and emotion recognition 30 min after administration. The order of the sprays as well as the order of the tasks were randomized using computer randomization. We performed mixed modeling to examined the effect of oxytocin on the outcome variables. The file “Documentation-ReadMe” describes the trial information, methodology, and the variables included in the datasets. The file "icu_dutch" is the Dutch version of the Inventory of callous-unemotional traits, the file ctq_dutch" is the Dutch version of the Childhood trauma questionnaire", and the file "ades_dutch" is the Dutch version of the Adolescent dissociative experiences scale.

The neurohormone oxytocin regulates many aspects of physiology primarily by binding to its receptor, the oxytocin receptor. The oxytocin receptor gene (Oxtr) has been shown to have alternative transcripts in the mouse brain which may each have different biological functions or be used in specific contexts. A popular animal model for studying oxytocin-dependent social behaviors is the prairie vole, a biparental and monogamous rodent. Alternative transcriptional capacity of Oxtr in prairie voles is unknown. We used 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends to identify alternative Oxtr transcription start sites in prairie vole brain tissue and uterine tissue. We then validated expression of specific transcripts in fetal brains and assessed the impact of exogenous oxytocin administration in utero on offspring brain development. We identified seven distinct Oxtr transcripts, all of which are present in both brain and uterine tissue. We then demonstrated that maternal oxytocin administration alters expression of a specific subset of Oxtr transcripts and that these different transcripts are under unique epigenetic regulation, such that in the perinatal period only one of the alternative transcripts is associated with DNA methylation in the Oxtr promoter. These data establish the existence of multiple Oxtr transcripts in prairie vole brain and uterine tissue and implicate oxytocin in the regulation of alternative transcript expression. These data have significant implications for our understanding of null mutant models in both mice and voles and translation in human birth and behavior.

Abstract: Affectionate touch, which is vital for mental and physical health, was restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study investigated the association between momentary affectionate touch and subjective well-being, as well as salivary oxytocin and cortisol in everyday life during the pandemic. In the first step, we measured anxiety and depression symptoms, loneliness, and attitude toward social touch in a large cross-sectional online survey (N=1,050). From this sample, N=247 participants completed ecologically momentary assessments (EMA) over two days with six daily assessments by answering smartphone-based questions on affectionate touch and momentary mental state and providing concomitant saliva samples for cortisol and oxytocin assessment. Multilevel models showed that on a within-person level, affectionate touch was associated with decreased self-reported anxiety, general burden, stress, and increased oxytocin levels. On a between-person level, affectionate touch was associated with decreased cortisol levels and higher happiness. Moreover, individuals with a positive attitude towards social touch experiencing loneliness reported more mental health problems. Our results suggest that affectionate touch is linked to higher endogenous oxytocin in times of pandemic and lockdown and might buffer stress on a subjective and hormonal level. These findings might have implications for preventing mental burden during social contact restrictions.

The Oxytocin Market size was valued at USD 4.07 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 8.89 billion by 2032, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.8 % during the forecasts period.

Main effect for healthy controls on oxytocin

Collection description

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design to compare the impacts of a single intranasal oxytocin dose on amygdala connectivity among individuals with schizophrenia (n = 22) versus healthy controls (n = 24).

Subject species

homo sapiens

Modality

fMRI-BOLD

Analysis level

group

Cognitive paradigm (task)

rest eyes closed

Map type

Z

There have been numerous studies in which the biological role of oxytocin in trusting behavior has been investigated. However, a link between oxytocin and trust in humans was discovered only in one early study. We hypothesized that there is a large interindividual variation in oxytocin sensitivity, and that such variation is one reason for the doubt surrounding the role of oxytocin in trusting behavior. Here, in a double-blind, prospective, case-control study, we administered intranasal oxytocin to participants of trust and risk games. We measured salivary oxytocin concentration, relating it to the amount of money transferred among participants (a proxy for trust) and the autism-spectrum quotient (AQ). A one-sided Fisher’s exact test was performed to detect differences between the oxytocin and placebo groups in the proportions of investors who transferred the maximum amount of money. We discovered a tendency for participants who received oxytocin to transfer higher amounts of money to co-participants than those who received a placebo (P = 0.04). We also revealed a high degree of interindividual variation in salivary oxytocin concentrations after oxytocin administration. After stratifying the samples with respect to oxytocin sensitivity, oxytocin-sensitive participants in the oxytocin group also transferred higher amounts of money than those in the placebo group (P = 0.03), while such a tendency was not observed for oxytocin-insensitive participants (P = 0.34). Participants with lower AQ scores (less severe autistic traits) exhibited a greater tendency toward trusting behavior after oxytocin administration than did those with higher AQ scores (P = 0.02). A two-sample t-test that was performed to detect significant differences in the mean transfers between the oxytocin and placebo groups indicated no significant between-group difference in the mean transfers (P = 0.08). There are two possible interpretations of these results: First, there is no effect of oxytocin on trust in humans; second, the effects of oxytocin on trust in humans is person-dependent. However, the results should be interpreted with caution as the effect size was not larger than the minimal detectable effect size and the results were not statistically significant (P > 0.05) after Bonferroni corrections.

This dataset accompanies the research article "Oxytocin signaling regulates maternally-directed behavior during early life". It includes Matlab data structures for each of the figures in the article. Within each structure are entries for each panel in the figure, including all data points presented in the panel. Panels that do not include any quantitative data (for example images) are also associated with entries in the matlab structures, but these entries are empty.

The implementation of an institutional oxytocin checklist did not affect expert assessment of the use of oxytocin in labor. Checklist is included within the publication's appendix.

Breastfeeding behaviors can significantly change mothers’ physiological and psychological states. The hormone oxytocin may mediate breastfeeding and mothers’ emotion recognition. This study examined the effects of endogenous oxytocin fluctuation via breastfeeding on emotion recognition in 51 primiparous mothers. Saliva oxytocin was assessed before and after the manipulation (breastfeeding or holding an infant), and emotion recognition tasks were conducted. Among mothers who breastfed daily, mothers with more increased levels of oxytocin after breastfeeding showed greater reduced negative recognition and enhanced positive recognition of adult facial expressions. These oxytocin functions accompanying breastfeeding may support continued nurturing behaviors and also affect the general social cognition of other adults beyond any specific effect on infants.

unit: µU/ml per creatinin g/L.

Introduction

This note describes the data sets used for all analyses contained in the manuscript 'Oxytocin - a social peptide?’[1] that is currently under review.

Data Collection

The data sets described here were originally retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection via the University of Edinburgh’s library subscription [2]. The aim of the original study for which these data were gathered was to survey peer-reviewed primary studies on oxytocin and social behaviour. To capture relevant papers, we used the following query:

TI = (“oxytocin” OR “pitocin” OR “syntocinon”) AND TS = (“social*” OR “pro$social” OR “anti$social”)

The final search was performed on the 13 September 2021. This returned a total of 2,747 records, of which 2,049 were classified by WoS as ‘articles’. Given our interest in primary studies only – articles reporting original data – we excluded all other document types. We further excluded all articles sub-classified as ‘book chapters’ or as ‘proceeding papers’ in order to limit our analysis to primary studies published in peer-reviewed academic journals. This reduced the set to 1,977 articles. All of these were published in the English language, and no further language refinements were unnecessary.

All available metadata on these 1,977 articles was exported as plain text ‘flat’ format files in four batches, which we later merged together via Notepad++. Upon manually examination, we discovered examples of papers classified as ‘articles’ by WoS that were, in fact, reviews. To further filter our results, we searched all available PMIDs in PubMed (1,903 had associated PMIDs - ~96% of set). We then filtered results to identify all records classified as ‘review’, ‘systematic review’, or ‘meta-analysis’, identifying 75 records 3. After examining a sample and agreeing with the PubMed classification, these were removed these from our dataset - leaving a total of 1,902 articles.

From these data, we constructed two datasets via parsing out relevant reference data via the Sci2 Tool [4]. First, we constructed a ‘node-attribute-list’ by first linking unique reference strings (‘Cite Me As’ column in WoS data files) to unique identifiers, we then parsed into this dataset information on the identify of a paper, including the title of the article, all authors, journal publication, year of publication, total citations as recorded from WoS, and WoS accession number. Second, we constructed an ‘edge-list’ that records the citations from a citing paper in the ‘Source’ column and identifies the cited paper in the ‘Target’ column, using the unique identifies as described previously to link these data to the node-attribute-list.

We then constructed a network in which papers are nodes, and citation links between nodes are directed edges between nodes. We used Gephi Version 0.9.2 [5] to manually clean these data by merging duplicate references that are caused by different reference formats or by referencing errors. To do this, we needed to retain both all retrieved records (1,902) as well as including all of their references to papers whether these were included in our original search or not. In total, this produced a network of 46,633 nodes (unique reference strings) and 112,520 edges (citation links). Thus, the average reference list size of these articles is ~59 references. The mean indegree (within network citations) is 2.4 (median is 1) for the entire network reflecting a great diversity in referencing choices among our 1,902 articles.

After merging duplicates, we then restricted the network to include only articles fully retrieved (1,902), and retrained only those that were connected together by citations links in a large interconnected network (i.e. the largest component). In total, 1,892 (99.5%) of our initial set were connected together via citation links, meaning a total of ten papers were removed from the following analysis – and these were neither connected to the largest component, nor did they form connections with one another (i.e. these were ‘isolates’).

This left us with a network of 1,892 nodes connected together by 26,019 edges. It is this network that is described by the ‘node-attribute-list’ and ‘edge-list’ provided here. This network has a mean in-degree of 13.76 (median in-degree of 4). By restricting our analysis in this way, we lose 44,741 unique references (96%) and 86,501 citations (77%) from the full network, but retain a set of articles tightly knitted together, all of which have been fully retrieved due to possessing certain terms related to oxytocin AND social behaviour in their title, abstract, or associated keywords.

Before moving on, we calculated indegree for all nodes in this network – this counts the number of citations to a given paper from other papers within this network – and have included this in the node-attribute-list. We further clustered this network via modularity maximisation via the Leiden algorithm [6]. We set the algorithm to resolution 1, and allowed the algorithm to run over 100 iterations and 100 restarts. This gave Q=0.43 and identified seven clusters, which we describe in detail within the body of the paper. We have included cluster membership as an attribute in the node-attribute-list.

Data description

We include here two datasets: (i) ‘OTSOC-node-attribute-list.csv’ consists of the attributes of 1,892 primary articles retrieved from WoS that include terms indicating a focus on oxytocin and social behaviour; (ii) ‘OTSOC-edge-list.csv’ records the citations between these papers. Together, these can be imported into a range of different software for network analysis; however, we have formatted these for ease of upload into Gephi 0.9.2. Below, we detail their contents:

1. ‘OTSOC-node-attribute-list.csv’ is a comma-separate values file that contains all node attributes for the citation network (n=1,892) analysed in the paper. The columns refer to:

Id, the unique identifier

Label, the reference string of the paper to which the attributes in this row correspond. This is taken from the ‘Cite Me As’ column from the original WoS download. The reference string is in the following format: last name of first author, publication year, journal, volume, start page, and DOI (if available).

Wos_id, unique Web of Science (WoS) accession number. These can be used to query WoS to find further data on all papers via the ‘UT= ’ field tag.

Title, paper title.

Authors, all named authors.

Journal, journal of publication.

Pub_year, year of publication.

Wos_citations, total number of citations recorded by WoS Core Collection to a given paper as of 13 September 2021

Indegree, the number of within network citations to a given paper, calculated for the network shown in Figure 1 of the manuscript.

Cluster, provides the cluster membership number as discussed within the manuscript (Figure 1). This was established via modularity maximisation via the Leiden algorithm (Res 1; Q=0.43|7 clusters)

1. ‘OTSOC-edge -list.csv’ is a comma-separate values file that contains all citation links between the 1,892 articles (n=26,019). The columns refer to:

Source, the unique identifier of the citing paper.

Target, the unique identifier of the cited paper.

Type, edges are ‘Directed’, and this column tells Gephi to regard all edges as such.

Syr_date, this contains the date of publication of the citing paper.

Tyr_date, this contains the date of publication of the cited paper.

Software recommended for analysis

Gephi version 0.9.2 was used for the visualisations within the manuscript, and both files can be read and into Gephi without modification.

Notes

[1] Leng, G., Leng, R. I., Ludwig, M. (Submitted). Oxytocin – a social peptide? Deconstructing the evidence.

[2] Edinburgh University’s subscription to Web of Science covers the following databases: (i) Science Citation Index Expanded, 1900-present; (ii) Social Sciences Citation Index, 1900-present; (iii) Arts & Humanities Citation Index, 1975-present; (iv) Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Science, 1990-present; (v) Conference Proceedings Citation Index- Social Science & Humanities, 1990-present; (vi) Book Citation Index– Science, 2005-present; (vii) Book Citation Index– Social Sciences & Humanities, 2005-present; (viii) Emerging Sources Citation Index, 2015-present.

[3] For those interested, the following PMIDs were identified as ‘articles’ by WoS, but as ‘reviews’ by PubMed: ‘34502097’ ‘33400920’ ‘32060678’ ‘31925983’ ‘31734142’ ‘30496762’ ‘30253045’ ‘29660735’ ‘29518698’ ‘29065361’ ‘29048602’ ‘28867943’ ‘28586471’ ‘28301323’ ‘27974283’ ‘27626613’ ‘27603523’ ‘27603327’ ‘27513442’ ‘27273834’ ‘27071789’ ‘26940141’ ‘26932552’ ‘26895254’ ‘26869847’ ‘26788924’ ‘26581735’ ‘26548910’ ‘26317636’ ‘26121678’ ‘26094200’ ‘25997760’ ‘25631363’ ‘25526824’ ‘25446893’ ‘25153535’ ‘25092245’ ‘25086828’ ‘24946432’ ‘24637261’ ‘24588761’ ‘24508579’ ‘24486356’ ‘24462936’ ‘24239932’ ‘24239931’ ‘24231551’ ‘24216134’ ‘23955310’ ‘23856187’ ‘23686025’ ‘23589638’ ‘23575742’ ‘23469841’ ‘23055480’ ‘22981649’ ‘22406388’ ‘22373652’ ‘22141469’ ‘21960250’ ‘21881219’ ‘21802859’ ‘21714746’ ‘21618004’ ‘21150165’ ‘20435805’ ‘20173685’ ‘19840865’ ‘19546570’ ‘19309413’ ‘15288368’ ‘12359512’ ‘9401603’ ‘9213136’ ‘7630585’

[4] Sci2 Team. (2009). Science of Science (Sci2) Tool. Indiana University and SciTech Strategies. Stable URL: https://sci2.cns.iu.edu

[5] Bastian, M., Heymann, S., & Jacomy, M. (2009).

Both oxytocin (OT) and touch are key mediators of social attachment. In rodents, tactile stimulation elicits endogenous release of OT, potentially facilitating attachment and other forms of prosocial behavior, yet the relationship between endogenous OT and neural modulation remains unexplored in humans. Using serial sampling of plasma hormone levels during functional neuroimaging across two successive social interactions, we show that contextual circumstances of social touch influence not only current hormonal and brain responses but also later responses. Namely, touch from a male to his female romantic partner enhanced her subsequent OT release for touch from an unfamiliar stranger, yet females’ OT responses to partner touch were dampened following stranger touch. Hypothalamus and dorsal raphe activation reflected plasma OT changes during the initial social interaction. In the subsequent interaction, precuneus and parietal-temporal cortex pathways tracked time- and context-dependent va...

Spearman correlation coefficients for associations between basal / induced oxytocin levels and MET cognitive and emotional empathy in patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.

Contact: Dr. Natalie Ebner (natalie.ebner@ufl.edu)

Please see the following a preprint for the Data in Brief manuscript associated with this dataset: https://osf.io/wn7sj/

Overview

Single Dose Intranasal Oxytocin Administration: Data from Healthy Younger and Older Adults This study examined the effects of a single-dose (24 international units) intranasal OT vs. PL administration on brain and behavioral outcomes in younger (n = 44; aged 18-31 years; 48% female) and older (n = 43; aged 63-81 years; 56% female) adults. The study followed a 2 (age: Younger, Older) X 2 (sex: Male, Female) X 2 (treatment: OT, PL) design.

Data was collected between August 2013 and October 2014. Potential participants were first prescreened for study eligibility over the phone (~30 min), during which they completed the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (Brandt, Specter, & Folstein, 1988) and self-reported demographic information. Eligible participants then came to the University of Florida for an in-person screening session (~45 min) during which they completed cognitive tests (Digit Symbol Substitution Test, Weschler, 1981; Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Rey, 1964) as well as provided blood and saliva samples. Participants then returned for an in-person full session (~3 hrs) during which they self-administered the intranasal spray (OT or PL; randomized, double-blind procedure) and underwent a T1-weighted (T1w) structural scan along with a resting-state fMRI scan. Neuroimaging data were collected on a 3T Philips Achieva MRI Scanner at the UF McKnight Brain Institute.

Subjects

Generally healthy younger (n = 44; aged 18-31 years; 48% female) and older (n = 43; aged 63-81 years; 56% female) adults were recruited from the Gainesville, FL area. No participant had neurological or psychiatric disorders, and all participants were able to understand and give informed written consent for this study. All older participants scored ≥ 30 on the Telephone Interview For Cognitive Status (Brandt, Specter, & Folstein, 1988). Only white, English-speaking adults were included in this study. All older women included in the study were postmenopausal whereas all younger women were premenopausal. Individuals with contraindications for MRI or intranasal OT spray self-administration were excluded for safety. Individuals with certain metal implants or pacemakers; who were pregnant or breastfeeding; excessively smoked or drank alcohol; and/or had severe or progressive medical illness(es) were not eligible for this study. Participants were debriefed and compensated at the end of the study.

Apparatus

A 3T Philips Achieva MRI Scanner with a 32-channel head coil was used to acquire brain images. Participants were placed in the MRI scanner with their heads comfortably positioned and stabilized with cushions to reduce head motion.

Task details

Following recommendations for the standardized administration of intranasal OT (Guastella et al., 2013), participants self-administered 24 IU (i.e., one puff per nostril) of OT or PL, which contained the same ingredients as the OT spray except for the synthetic OT (IND 100,860). Compounding, dispensing, and randomization were overseen by the dispensing pharmacy.

Before MRI scanning, participants received instructions about the MRI procedure as well as an overview of the experimental tasks they would complete inside the scanner. Participants were settled into the 3T MRI scanner ~45 minutes after self-administration of OT or PL. Participants underwent anatomical image acquisition followed by functional image acquisition across four tasks (not included in this dataset), including an eyes-open resting-state scan.

Anatomical data was collected in the first 10 minutes of the MRI scanning for anatomical details. These anatomical scans included a high-resolution three-dimensional T1w scan using an MP-RAGE sequence (sagittal plane, TR/TE/TI = 7/3.2/2750 ms, flip angle = 8°; in-plane FOV = 240 mm x 240 mm; imaging matrix 240 x 240; 170 contiguous sagittal slices with 1 mm slice thickness, 1x1x1 mm3 isotropic voxels).

For functional scans, a single-shot gradient echo, echo-planar imaging sequence sensitized to blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) contrast (TR = 2000 ms, TE = 30 ms, flip angle = 90°, in-plane FOV = 240 mm x 240 mm, 80x80 matrix size, 3x3x3 mm3 isotropic voxels, 38 interleaved axial slices (ascending 1, 3, 5, etc.), zero inter-slice gap) was used for whole-brain fMRI coverage. Every functional run started with 4 dummy scans (each lasting 1 TR (2000ms) which is 8 seconds); each run ended with a “fade out” period of 4 dummy scans (each lasting 1 TR (2000ms) which is 8 seconds). The resting-state scan took place between 70–90 minutes after spray administration and lasted about 8 minutes with 240 time points acquired. Participants lay supine and were instructed to relax and look at a white fixation cross on a black screen.

Additional data acquired

This study comprised 1) an initial phone prescreening call to determine study eligibility (~30 min), 2) an in-person screening session (~45 min), and 3) an in-person full MRI session (~3 hrs; see task details above). Only the acquisition of measures provided in this dataset is described here.

1. Prescreening call

During an initial phone prescreening, older participants underwent the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status to screen for cognitive decline (Brandt, Spencer, & Fosltein, 1988). All participants completed an MRI Eligibility Form and a study-specific Health Screening and Demographics Form to assess demographic information, present health conditions, and health history. Based on these measures, eligibility for the study was determined. Eligible participants were then scheduled for an in-person screening session and full session on campus. All participants provided informed written consent before enrollment . All in-person sessions took place at ~8:00 AM. Participants were also instructed to stay hydrated and abstain from substance use and caffeine for 24 hours and from food, exercise, and sexual activity for at least two hours before the sessions.

1. In-person screening session

During the in-person screening session, participants completed an intake interview and cognitive measures that included the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning task (RAVLT; Rey, 1964), which measures short-term verbal memory, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST; Wechsler, 1981), which measures sensorimotor processing speed, among other questionnaires. For female participants, menstrual cycle phase data was also obtained via self-report.

Saliva (i.e., ApoE status) and blood sampling (i.e., plasma OT and AVP levels) were conducted along with a health review by a clinician. Saliva samples were collected using the OraGene DNA Self Collection Kit OG-500 (http://www.dnagenotek.com/ROW/products/OG500.html); participants salivated approximately 2mL into a collection tube that is part of the kit. Saliva samples were assayed by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (PI: Huentelman) between February and April 2022. Blood plasma was frozen to –70 °C directly after collection and only thawed immediately before assay. OT (unextracted) and AVP were measured via Enzyme Immunoassay (EIA), purchased from Enzo Life Sciences, Inc. (Farmingdale, New York); plasma samples were run at the same time with inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation less than 8%.

1. In-person full MRI session

Participants eligible for full study participation returned to campus at a later date for the in-person full session. During this session, participants underwent further MRI safety determination and completed another intake interview. See task details above for more information.

Experimental location

Participants were recruited around the Gainesville area in Florida, USA (GPS coordinates: 29.6446° N, 82.3535° W) and attended study sessions at the University of Florida. Sessions were conducted in the Department of Psychology, the Institute on Aging, and the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida between August 2013 to October 2014.

Missing data

Some data was not included in this repository due to technical issues (resulting in missing or corrupted files) as well as study attrition. Several participants did not complete the resting-state functional scan, which was the last scan in the imaging sequence, due to time restrictions (e.g., technical difficulties earlier on in the session, late arrival of participant) and thus are not included in this dataset. Any missing phenotype data are designated with “n/a” (i.e., not applicable) in the dataset.

Notes

Two subjects (sub-11001 and sub-12000) had slightly different resting state scan parameters from the rest of the participants. Participant specific JSON resting state files are in the /func directories for these participants, while the JSON files at the root directory apply to all other participants.

*Adjusted for age, number of children, self-rated health, and education.

Oxytocin is an endogenous neuropeptide hormone that influences social behaviour and bonding in mammals. Variations in oxytocin receptor (OXTR) expression may play a role in the social deficits seen in autism spectrum disorder. Previous studies from our laboratory found a dense population of OXTR in the human substantia nigra (SN), a basal ganglia structure in the midbrain that is important in both movement and reward pathways. Here, we explore whether differences in OXTR can be identified in the dopaminergic SN pars compacta of individuals with autism. Postmortem human brain tissue specimens were processed for OXTR receptor autoradiography from four groups: males with autism, females with autism, typically developing (TD) males and TD females. We found that females with autism had significantly lower levels of OXTR than the other groups. To examine potential gene expression differences, we performed in situ hybridization in adjacent slides to visualize and quantify OXTR mRNA as well as mRNA for tyrosine hydroxylase. We found no differences in mRNA levels for either gene across the four groups. These results suggest that a dysregulation in local OXTR protein translation or increased OXTR internalization/recycling may contribute to the differences in social symptoms seen in females with autism.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Interplays between oxytocin and other neuromodulators in shaping complex social behaviours’.

Ranks of known targets (DrugBank) and binding proteins (PDSP database) for Oxytocin and Nefazodone.