@article {225, title = {The effect of intranasal oxytocin treatment on conditioned fear extinction and recall in a healthy human sample.}, journal = {Psychopharmacology (Berl)}, volume = {229}, year = {2013}, month = {2013 Sep}, pages = {199-208}, abstract = {

RATIONALE: To improve outcomes for patients undergoing extinction-based therapies (e.g., exposure therapy) for anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there has been interest in identifying pharmaceutical compounds that might facilitate fear extinction learning and recall. Oxytocin (OT) is a mammalian neuropeptide that modulates activation of fear extinction-based neural circuits and fear responses. Little is known, however, about the effects of OT treatment on conditioned fear responding and extinction in humans.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of OT in a fear-potentiated startle task of fear conditioning and extinction.

METHODS: A double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 44 healthy human participants was conducted. Participants underwent a conditioned fear acquisition procedure, after which they were randomized to treatment group and delivered OT (24\ IU) or placebo via intranasal (IN) spray. Forty-five minutes after treatment, participants underwent extinction training. Twenty-four hours later, subjects were tested for extinction recall.

RESULTS: Relative to placebo, the OT group showed increased fear-potentiated startle responding during the earliest stage of extinction training relative to placebo; however, all treatment groups showed the same level of reduced responding by the end of extinction training. Twenty-four hours later, the OT group showed significantly higher recall of extinction relative to placebo.

CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides preliminary evidence that OT may facilitate fear extinction recall in humans. These results support further study of OT as a potential adjunctive treatment for extinction-based therapies in fear-related disorders.

}, keywords = {Adult, Conditioning (Psychology), Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Recall, Oxytocin, Reflex, Startle, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult}, issn = {1432-2072}, doi = {10.1007/s00213-013-3099-4}, author = {Acheson, D. and Feifel, D. and de Wilde, S. and McKinney, R. and Lohr, J. and Risbrough, V.} }