Efficacy of Administering Oxytocin Orally Using a Medicated Lollipop Approach on Peripheral Concentrations and Attention: Comparisons With Intranasal and Lingual Spray Administration
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- oral lollipop with oxytocin (24IU)
- Conditions
- Healthy
- Sponsor
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Enrollment
- 72
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Oral oxytocin effect on error rates of saccade/anti-saccade to social (faces) and non-social (shape) cues between the oxytocin and placebo groups.
- Last Updated
- 3 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The study will investigate whether oxytocin (24IU) administered orally using medicated lollipops results in increased peripheral oxytocin concentrations and can modulate social attention in an anti-saccade paradigm in the same way as when it is administered by intranasal or lingual routes.
Detailed Description
In a triple-blind, placebo-controlled experiment, 72 adult male subjects will be randomly allocated to either receive oral oxytocin (24IU - medicated lollipop - n = 36) or placebo (lollipop without oxytocin - n = 36). After treatment allocation, all subjects will first fill out a set of questionnaires as a control for potential confounders, including Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Autism Spectrum Quotient (ASQ), the Second Version of Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), and Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Immediately before and 30 minutes after oral treatment administration, subjects will have 5 ml blood samples taken for assay of oxytocin concentrations. Subjects will sit quietly and relax in between blood samples. After the second blood sample, subjects will be positioned sitting in front of an eye-tracking machine and briefly practicing the anti-saccade task. Subjects will then perform the full anti-saccade eye-tracking task, which includes both social (emotional faces - angry, fear, happy, sad, and neutral) and non-social (oval shapes or houses) stimuli (similar to previous studies using intranasal -see NCT03486925 and NCT04493515). After the task, subjects will be asked to guess which treatment they received, and their ability to do so analyzed using chi-squared. Treatment effects on primary (anti-saccade and pro-saccade errors and response latencies) outcomes will be analyzed using ANOVAs. In a secondary analysis, associations between primary outcome measures and basal and altered oxytocin concentrations will be analyzed using Pearson or Spearman correlations. Additionally, a comparison between the effects of oxytocin administered intranasally, lingually (using previously published data), and orally (medicated lollipop) on outcome measures will be analyzed using ANOVA.
Investigators
Keith Kendrick
Principal Inverstigator
University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Healthy subjects without any past or present psychiatric or neurological disorders
Exclusion Criteria
- •History of brain injury
- •Head trauma
- •Substance abuse
Arms & Interventions
oral oxytocin
oral lollipop with oxytocin (24IU)
Intervention: oral lollipop with oxytocin (24IU)
oral lollipop with placebo
Placebo orally (identical ingredients, except the active agent)
Intervention: oral lollipop with placebo
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Oral oxytocin effect on error rates of saccade/anti-saccade to social (faces) and non-social (shape) cues between the oxytocin and placebo groups.
Time Frame: 45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop
A mixed ANOVA to compare differences in error rates in saccade/anti-saccade to different conditions (social/non-social) between two treatment groups.
Oral oxytocin effect on latencies (in milliseconds) of saccade/anti-saccade to social (faces) and non-social (shape) cues between the oxytocin and placebo groups.
Time Frame: 45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop
A mixed ANOVA to compare differences of latencies (in milliseconds) in saccade/anti-saccade to different conditions (social/non-social) between two treatment groups.
Secondary Outcomes
- Change of Mood as assessed by the Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) before and after the experiment in two treatment groups.(45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop)
- Change of state anxiety as assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) before and after the experiment in two treatment groups.(45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop)
- Plasma oxytocin concentrations (pg/ml) before (basal) and 30 minutes after oral oxytocin or placebo administration.(30 minutes after oral lollipop)
- Associations between plasma oxytocin concentration changes and task performance (error rates, latencies), mood (PANAS), and state anxiety (SAI).(45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop)
- Comparison between the effects of oxytocin administered intranasally, lingually, and orally on anti-saccade errors (%) by mixed ANOVA.(45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop)
- Comparison between the effects of oxytocin administered intranasally, lingually, and orally on latencies in milliseconds by mixed ANOVA.(45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop)
- Comparison between the effects of oxytocin administered intranasally, lingually, and orally in state anxiety (measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) changes by mixed ANOVA.(45minutes ~ 100 minutes after oral lollipop)