Research project

Pharmacological conditioning of oxytocin responses in healthy volunteers

Is it possible to pharmacologically condition oxytocin responses in healthy individuals and identify the neural circuitry underlying such conditioning?

Duration

2017 - 2020

Contact

Aleksandrina Skvortsova

Funding

ERC Consolidator Grant

Partners

prof dr. Monique A.M. Smeets, Department of Social, Health, and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University
prof Omer van den Bergh, Health Psychology, University of Leuven
prof dr. Niels H. Chavannes, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center
prof dr. Albert Dahan, Department of Anaesthesiology, Leiden University Medical Center
dr. Karen M. Grewen, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina
dr. Mischa de Rover, Clinical Psychology Unit, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Institute of Psychology

Current research on the conditioning of endocrine responses in humans is limited. Although studies have shown that it is possible to elicit conditioned responses in insulin, growth hormone, and cortisol, other hormonal systems have not been thoroughly investigated. Furthermore, it is unclear whether these findings can be generalized to other endocrine parameters, and the neural circuitry of hormonal conditioning has never been examined.

In this research project, we aim to investigate whether it is possible to pharmacologically condition oxytocin responses in healthy individuals, and to identify the neural circuitry underlying such conditioning.

Methods

To achieve this goal, we use a previously validated two-phase pharmacological conditioning paradigm, consisting of an acquisition and an evocation phase. In the acquisition phase, we pair an active pharmacological medication that induces oxytocin release with a conditioned stimulus, namely a particular smell. In the evocation phase, we present volunteers with the conditioned stimulus and a placebo medication and measure their physiological responses to the conditioned stimulus.

Additionally, we conduct functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans to investigate the brain responses to the conditioned stimulus.

Research goal

Overall, this study aims to expand our understanding of hormonal conditioning in humans, particularly regarding the possibility of pharmacologically conditioning oxytocin responses, and the neural mechanisms underlying such conditioning.

Skvortsova, A., Veldhuijzen, D. S., De Rover, M., Pacheco-López, G., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Chavannes, N. H., Van Middendorp, H., & Evers, A. W. M. (2020). Effects of oxytocin administration and conditioned oxytocin on brain activity: An fMRI study. PLOS ONE, 15(3), e0229692. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0229692
Skvortsova, A., Veldhuijzen, D. S., Pacheco-López, G., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Smeets, M. A. M., Wilderjans, T. F., Dahan, A., Van Den Bergh, O., Chavannes, N. H., Van Der Wee, N. J., Grewen, K. M., Van Middendorp, H., & Evers, A. W. M. (2020). Placebo Effects in the Neuroendocrine System: Conditioning of the Oxytocin Responses. Psychosomatic Medicine, 82(1), 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0000000000000759