The neurobiological impact of oxytocin in mental health disorders: a comprehensive review

Oxytocin, a neuropeptide, plays a significant role in modulating social behavior and has been widely studied for its potential impact on mental health disorders. This review examines the neurobiological mechanisms through which oxytocin influences mental health and its therapeutic potential in conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. Oxytocin enhances social bonding, trust, and empathy by modulating neural circuits linked to social interactions. Studies indicate that oxytocin’s ability to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis plays a vital role in stress response and emotional regulation. Therapeutic applications, particularly intranasal administration of oxytocin, have shown promise in alleviating symptoms and improving patient outcomes. However, personalized approaches are essential to optimize treatment effectiveness. Despite its potential, challenges remain in understanding the mechanisms underlying its effects and identifying the patient populations that would benefit most from such therapies. Future research should focus on elucidating these mechanisms, exploring the long-term efficacy of oxytocin-based interventions, and advancing personalized medicine to maximize its clinical utility.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Annals of Medicine and Surgery

• Publication date

  2025-02-07

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1097/MS9.0000000000003015PMID 40213210PMCID 11981257
• 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.

• Vasopressin as Possible Treatment Option in Autism Spectrum Disorder

  2023cited by this paper
• Oxytocin vs. placebo effects on intrusive memory consolidation using a trauma film paradigm: a randomized, controlled experimental study in healthy women

  2023cited by this paper
• Exploring a Possible Interplay between Schizophrenia, Oxytocin, and Estrogens: A Narrative Review

  2023cited by this paper
• Oxytocin in Women’s Health and Disease

  2022cited by this paper
• Oxytocin: Narrative Expert Review of Current Perspectives on the Relationship with Other Neurotransmitters and the Impact on the Main Psychiatric Disorders

  2022cited by this paper
• Oxytocin levels tend to be lower in autistic children: A meta-analysis of 31 studies

  2021cited by this paper
• Roles of Oxytocin in Stress Responses, Allostasis and Resilience

  2021cited by this paper
• Oxytocin, Erectile Function and Sexual Behavior: Last Discoveries and Possible Advances

  2021cited by this paper
• Oxytocin in Schizophrenia: Pathophysiology and Implications for Future Treatment

  2021cited by this paper
• The Effects of Oxytocin on Appetite Regulation, Food Intake and Metabolism in Humans

  2021cited by this paper
• Meta-analysis: Pharmacologic Treatment of Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

  2020cited by this paper
• Endogenous oxytocin levels are associated with impaired social cognition and neurocognition in schizophrenia.

  2019cited by this paper
• Symptoms

  2018cited by this paper
• Molecular Mechanisms of Oxytocin Signaling at the Synaptic Connection

  2018cited by this paper
• État des connaissancesL’ocytocine et la dépression du post-partumOxytocin and postpartum depression☆

  2017cited by this paper
• Gating of social reward by oxytocin in the ventral tegmental area

  2017cited by this paper
• Intranasal oxytocin reduces provoked symptoms in female patients with posttraumatic stress disorder despite exerting sympathomimetic and positive chronotropic effects in a randomized controlled trial

  2017cited by this paper
• [Oxytocin and postpartum depression].

  2016cited by this paper
• IS OXYTOCIN RELEVANT FOR THE AFFECTIVE DISORDERS?

  2016cited by this paper
• Plasma Oxytocin in Children with Autism and Its Correlations with Behavioral Parameters in Children and Parents

  2016cited by this paper
• Oxytocin in General Anxiety and Social Fear: A Translational Approach.

  2016cited by this paper
• Oxytocin course over pregnancy and postpartum period and the association with postpartum depressive symptoms

  2016cited by this paper
• Intranasal Oxytocin Enhances Connectivity in the Neural Circuitry Supporting Social Motivation and Social Perception in Children with Autism

  2016cited by this paper
• Endogenous oxytocin levels are associated with the perception of emotion in dynamic body expressions in schizophrenia.

  2015cited by this paper
• Effects of sex, menstrual cycle phase, and endogenous hormones on cognition in schizophrenia.

  2015cited by this paper
• Plasma oxytocin levels predict olfactory identification and negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia.

  2015cited by this paper
• PLASMA OXYTOCIN LEVELS PREDICT SOCIAL CUE RECOGNITION IN INDIVIDUALS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

  2015cited by this paper
• Oxytocin and HPA stress axis reactivity in postpartum women.

  2015cited by this paper
• Psychosocial stress moderates the relationships between oxytocin, perinatal depression, and maternal behavior.

  2014cited by this paper
• Reduced levels of vasopressin and reduced behavioral modulation of oxytocin in psychotic disorders.

  2014cited by this paper
• Social approach and avoidance behaviour for negative emotions is modulated by endogenous oxytocin and paranoia in schizophrenia.

  2014cited by this paper
• Oxytocin and Autism: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

  2014cited by this paper
• Intranasal oxytocin in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders: a review of literature and early safety and efficacy data in youth.

  2014cited by this paper
• The role of oxytocin in psychiatric disorders: a review of biological and therapeutic research findings.

  2013cited by this paper
• Oxytocin enhances brain function in children with autism

  2013influential reference
• Oxytocin: a therapeutic target for mental disorders

  2012cited by this paper
• Modulating social behavior with oxytocin: how does it work? What does it mean?

  2012cited by this paper
• Intranasal oxytocin versus placebo in the treatment of adults with autism spectrum disorders: a randomized controlled trial

  2012cited by this paper
• The Relationship between Postpartum Depression and Breastfeeding

  2012cited by this paper
• Negative correlation between cerebrospinal fluid oxytocin levels and negative symptoms of male patients with schizophrenia.

  2012cited by this paper
• Plasma Oxytocin Concentration during Pregnancy is associated with Development of Postpartum Depression

  2011cited by this paper
• Preliminary evidence that plasma oxytocin levels are elevated in major depression.

  2010cited by this paper
• Peripheral oxytocin is associated with reduced symptom severity in schizophrenia.

  2010cited by this paper
• Assessing the antidepressant-like effects of carbetocin, an oxytocin agonist, using a modification of the forced swimming test

  2010cited by this paper
• Serum oxytocin levels in patients with depression and the effects of gender and antidepressant treatment.

  2009cited by this paper
• Sharing secrets: Oxytocin and trust in schizophrenia

  2009cited by this paper
• Being Human: Love: Neuroscience reveals all

  2009cited by this paper
• Search for potential autism treatments turns to 'trust hormone'

  2008cited by this paper
• Neuropeptides and social behaviour: effects of oxytocin and vasopressin in humans.

  2008cited by this paper
• Interaction Between Oestrogen and Oxytocin on Hypothalamic‐Pituitary‐Adrenal Axis Activity

  2007cited by this paper
• Oxytocin and anxiety of romantic attachment

  2007cited by this paper
• Oxytocin injected into the ventral tegmental area induces penile erection and increases extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens and paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus of male rats

  2007cited by this paper
• Plasma oxytocin levels in depression and their correlation with the temperament dimension of reward dependence

  2006cited by this paper
• The distribution of neural nitric oxide synthase-positive cerebrospinal fluid-contacting neurons in the third ventricular wall of male rats and coexistence with vasopressin or oxytocin.

  2005cited by this paper
• Oxytocin Modulates Neural Circuitry for Social Cognition and Fear in Humans

  2005cited by this paper
• Immunofluorescence of vasopressin and oxytocin in the rat hypothalamo-neurohypophyseal system

  2005cited by this paper
• Cerebrospinal fluid neurophysins in affective illness and in schizophrenia

  2004cited by this paper
• How the brain processes social information: searching for the social brain.

  2004cited by this paper
• Treatment of antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction with sildenafil: a randomized controlled trial.

  2003cited by this paper
• Pituitary anatomy and physiology.

  2003cited by this paper
• Treatment of antidepressant-associated sexual dysfunction with sildenafil: a randomized controlled trial.

  2003cited by this paper
• Developmental neurobiology of childhood stress and trauma.

  2002cited by this paper
• The Neuroscience of Natural Rewards: Relevance to Addictive Drugs

  2002cited by this paper
• Evolution of vertebrate neuropeptides.

  2001cited by this paper
• The oxytocin receptor system: structure, function, and regulation.

  2001cited by this paper
• Higher serum prolyl endopeptidase activity in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

  1999cited by this paper
• Decussations of the descending paraventricular pathways to the brainstem and spinal cord autonomic centers

  1999cited by this paper
• Oxytocin and addiction: a review.

  1998cited by this paper
• Oxytocin, prolactin, milk production and their relationship with personality traits in women after vaginal delivery or Cesarean section.

  1998cited by this paper
• Sorting and storage during secretory granule biogenesis: looking backward and looking forward.

  1998cited by this paper
• Oxytocinergic inputs to the nucleus of the solitary tract and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus in neonatal rats

  1998cited by this paper
• Structural bases of vasopressin/oxytocin receptor function.

  1998cited by this paper
• Intensive venous sampling of adrenocorticotropic hormone in rats with sham or paraventricular nucleus lesions.

  1997cited by this paper
• Plasma Levels of Arginine Vasopressin Elevated in Patients with Major Depression

  1997cited by this paper
• Effects of 5-HT agonists, selective for different receptor subtypes, on oxytocin, CCK, gastrin and somatostatin plasma levels in the rat.

  1996cited by this paper
• An anxiolytic action of oxytocin is enhanced by estrogen in the mouse.

  1996cited by this paper
• Oxytocin Released within the Supraoptic Nucleus of the Rat Brain by Positive Feedback Action is Involved in Parturition‐Related Events

  1996cited by this paper
• Oxytocin and the control of LH.

  1996cited by this paper
• Reduction of plasma oxytocin levels in patients suffering from major depression.

  1995cited by this paper
• Vasopressin and Oxytocin in Stress a

  1995cited by this paper
• Pre-ovulatory oxytocin administration promotes the onset of the luteinizing hormone surge in human females.

  1995cited by this paper
• Cerebrospinal fluid corticotropin-releasing hormone, vasopressin, and oxytocin concentrations in treated patients with major depression and controls.

  1995cited by this paper
• Oxytocin receptor messenger ribonucleic acid: characterization, regulation, and cellular localization in the rat pituitary gland.

  1995cited by this paper
• Effects of intranasal vasopressin and oxytocin on physiologic responding during personal combat imagery in Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

  1993cited by this paper
• Coexistence of corticotropin‐releasing factor and enkephalin in the paraventricular nucleus of the rat

  1990cited by this paper
• Oxytocin has a role in gonadotrophin regulation in rats.

  1990cited by this paper
• Pattern of oxytocin concentrations in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of lactating rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta): evidence for functionally independent oxytocinergic pathways in primates.

  1990cited by this paper
• Post-translational processing of oxytocin-neurophysin prohormone in the ovine corpus luteum: activity of peptidyl glycine alpha-amidating mono-oxygenase and concentrations of its cofactor, ascorbic acid.

  1989cited by this paper
• Relationship between oxytocin release and amplitude of oxytocin cell neurosecretory bursts during suckling in the rat.

  1987cited by this paper
• Release of oxytocin into blood and cerebrospinal fluid by electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus or neural lobe in the rat.

  1983cited by this paper
• Differential clearance of neurophysin and neurohypophysial peptides from the cerebrospinal fluid in conscious guinea pigs.

  1982cited by this paper
• Connections of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus with the neurohypophysis, median eminence, amygdala, lateral septum and midbrain periaqueductal gray: an electrophysiological study in the rat.

  1981cited by this paper
• Immunohistochemical analysis of magnocellular elements in rat hypothalamus: Distribution and numbers of cells containing neurophysin, oxytocin, and vasopressin

  1981cited by this paper
• The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus: Cytoarchitectonic subdivisions and organization of projections to the pituitary, dorsal vagal complex, and spinal cord as demonstrated by retrograde fluorescence double‐labeling methods

  1980cited by this paper
• Synthesis, transport, and release of posterior pituitary hormones.

  1980cited by this paper
• Oxytocin, vasopressin and memory: opposite effects on consolidation and retrieval processes.

  1978cited by this paper
• Evidence for the release of vasopressin and oxytocin into cerebrospinal fluid: measurements in plasma and CSF of intact and hypophysectomized rats.

  1977cited by this paper

• Methylome-wide association studies of physical injury stratified by depression status assesses exposure by diagnosis effects in oxytocin-signaling and synaptic plasticity.

  2026cites this paper
• Oxytocin beyond social bonding: Advancing neuromodulation, synaptic plasticity, and epigenetic precision in CNS disorders.

  2026cites this paper
• Altered acetylcholine modulations and corticoaccumbal pathway in P11-linked social dysfunction

  2025cites this paper
• Beyond Latency: Chronic Toxoplasma Infection and Its Unveiled Behavioral and Clinical Manifestations—A 30-Year Research Perspective

  2025cites this paper
• [Oxytocin versus dopamine: The delicate balance between social bonding and addiction].

  2025cites this paper
• Oxytocin Deficiency in Childhood and Adolescence: Clinical Features, Diagnostic Challenges and Therapeutic Perspectives

  2025cites this paper
• MDMA in Psychiatry: From PTSD to emerging indications, safety, and future directions

  2025cites this paper