Potential for limited reinforcing and abuse-related subjective effects of intranasal oxytocin

Background: There has been growing interest in using oxytocin as a pharmacotherapy for psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorder. Limited data exist regarding oxytocin’s reinforcing efficacy, which is a necessary consideration for novel pharmacotherapies, especially in substance-using populations. Aims: This study aimed to determine the potential reinforcing effects of intranasally administered oxytocin by assessing behavioral economic demand and subjective effects. Methods: Healthy adults (n = 23) participated in a double-blind, repeated-measures, laboratory study wherein they received intranasal oxytocin (40 IU) or placebo in a randomized order across two sessions. Participants completed drug purchasing tasks at the conclusion of both sessions. Throughout both sessions, subjective and physiological effects were assessed. Results: Demand-curve analysis of purchasing tasks revealed greater median purchasing for oxytocin relative to placebo. Physiological and subjective effects did not significantly differ between oxytocin and placebo. However, a nonsignificant trend was observed for moderately greater drug liking for oxytocin relative to placebo. There was a significant, positive correlation between the difference in drug liking (between oxytocin and placebo) and the difference in lowest-price purchasing (between oxytocin and placebo). Conclusions: These data suggest the potential for limited reinforcing and abuse-related subjective effects of intranasal oxytocin. Given the small sample, the greater drug liking of oxytocin compared to placebo, and the positive relation between demand and drug liking, it is possible that oxytocin may produce reinforcing effects in some participants. Therefore, additional studies of oxytocin reinforcement are warranted.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Journal of Psychopharmacology

• Publication date

  2020-03-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1177/0269881119867607PMID 31475622PMCID PMC8977072
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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