The Use of Daily, Intranasal Oxytocin for the Treatment of Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia (COS), a Randomized Double-Blind Trial

Background:

• Oxytocin is a chemical that the brain normally produces. It plays an important part in the way humans and other animals act in social and emotional situations. Adults with schizophrenia have been studied to see if oxytocin can reduce some symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hearing voices, feeling suspicious, and not feeling interested in daily life. These studies show that oxytocin may help. However, it has not been studied in children who develop schizophrenia. Researchers want to see if oxytocin, given as a nasal spray, is safe and can reduce schizophrenia symptoms in children.

Objectives:

• To see if an oxytocin nasal spray can reduce schizophrenia symptoms in children.

Eligibility:

• Children above 10 years of age who have childhood-onset schizophrenia, and have schizophrenia symptoms in spite of taking medication.

Design:

• This study will last 4 weeks. Participants will stay in the hospital for the entire period of the study. Participants may also have an extra 2 weeks of study medication and 1 week of testing immediately following the initial 4 weeks.
• Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical and psychiatric history. They will provide blood and urine samples, and have imaging studies of the brain. They will also have tests to look at their social and emotional functioning. These tests will take 1 week to perform.
• Participants will have either oxytocin or placebo nasal spray twice daily for 2 weeks.
• At the end of the 2-week period with nasal spray, there will be 1 week with no nasal spray. All the tests of week 1 will be repeated.
• The optional extra 3 weeks (2 weeks with oxytocin and one week for testing) will be similar to the second, third, and fourth weeks of the study. All participants will have oxytocin during this period.