Intranasal oxytocin reduces provoked symptoms in female patients with posttraumatic stress disorder despite exerting sympathomimetic and positive chronotropic effects in a randomized controlled trial.

Sack M, Spieler D, Wizelman L, Epple G, Stich J, Zaba M, Schmidt U

BMC medicine17 Feb 2017Cited by 50 (Europe PMC)

PMID28209155PMCIDPMC5314583DOI10.1186/s12916-017-0801-0PepBankPUB-28209155

Summary

BackgroundPosttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disease accompanied by neuroendocrine changes such as adrenergic overdrive and hence an elevated cardiovascular morbidity. Current pharmacotherapeutic options for PTSD are less than suboptimal, necessitating the development of PTSD-specific drugs. Although the neuropeptide oxytocin has been repeatedly suggested to be effective in PTSD treatment, there are, to our knowledge, only three studies that have assessed its efficacy on the intensity of PTSD symptoms in PTSD patients - among them one symptom provocation study in male veterans.MethodsTo evaluate for the first time how oxytocin influences the intensity of provoked PTSD symptoms and, furthermore, cardiac control in female PTSD patients, we assessed their psychic and cardiac response to trauma-script exposure with and without oxytocin pretreatment in a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled study. We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval. Furthermore, we performed a small pilot study to get an idea of the relation of the stress-modulated endogenous oxytocin levels and heart rate - we correlated oxytocin serum levels with the heart rate of 10 healthy individuals before and after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).ResultsIntranasal oxytocin treatment was followed by a reduction of provoked total PTSD symptoms, in particular of avoidance, and by an elevation in baseline and maximum heart rate together with a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker for sympathetic cardiac control. Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between endogenous oxytocin levels and heart rate both before and after TSST challenge in healthy control subjects.ConclusionsThis study provides the first evidence that oxytocin treatment reduces the intensity of provoked PTSD symptoms in female PTSD patients. The small size of both samples and the heterogeneity of the patient sample restrict the generalizability of our findings. Future studies have to explore the gender dependency and the tolerability of the oxytocin-mediated increase in heart rate. This randomized controlled trial was retrospectively registered at the German Trials Register (DRKS00009399) on the 02 October 2015.

CC BYText from Europe PMC. Highlighted sentences are the source of results.

Results from this study6

5 results from studies that gave the peptide. 5 results from people.

01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome
In female patients with PTSD, intranasal oxytocin pretreatment was followed by a reduction of provoked total PTSD symptoms versus placebo.
In plain wordsIn women with PTSD, nasal oxytocin before trauma-script exposure lowered provoked PTSD symptoms compared with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreaseProvoked total PTSD symptoms
Study
n = 35
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Anxiety and mood · Mental health and mood
Studied dose
Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
Intranasal oxytocin treatment was followed by a reduction of provoked total PTSD symptoms, in particular of avoidance, and by an elevation in baseline and maximum heart rate together with a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker for sympathetic cardiac control.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval.
Show in the study text Report a problemFND-2820915501
02HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome
In female patients with PTSD, intranasal oxytocin pretreatment reduced provoked avoidance symptoms in particular, versus placebo.
In plain wordsIn women with PTSD, nasal oxytocin lowered provoked avoidance symptoms in particular, compared with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreaseProvoked avoidance symptoms
Study
n = 35
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Anxiety and mood · Mental health and mood
Studied dose
Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
Intranasal oxytocin treatment was followed by a reduction of provoked total PTSD symptoms, in particular of avoidance
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval.
Show in the study text Report a problemFND-2820915502
03HumanRandomized controlled trialSafety outcome
In female patients with PTSD, intranasal oxytocin was followed by an elevation in baseline heart rate versus placebo.
In plain wordsIn women with PTSD, nasal oxytocin raised resting heart rate compared with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
IncreaseBaseline heart rate
Study
n = 35
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Heart function · Cardiovascular
Studied dose
Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
by an elevation in baseline and maximum heart rate together with a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker for sympathetic cardiac control.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval.
Show in the study text Report a problemFND-2820915503
04HumanRandomized controlled trialSafety outcome
In female patients with PTSD, intranasal oxytocin was followed by an elevation in maximum heart rate versus placebo.
In plain wordsIn women with PTSD, nasal oxytocin raised peak heart rate compared with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
IncreaseMaximum heart rate
Study
n = 35
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Heart function · Cardiovascular
Studied dose
Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
by an elevation in baseline and maximum heart rate together with a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker for sympathetic cardiac control.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval.
Show in the study text Report a problemFND-2820915504
05HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism
In female patients with PTSD, intranasal oxytocin was followed by a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker of sympathetic cardiac control, versus placebo.
In plain wordsIn women with PTSD, nasal oxytocin shortened a heart timing measure that signals more sympathetic nervous activity, compared with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreasePre-ejection period (sympathetic cardiac control)
Study
n = 35
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Heart function · Cardiovascular
Studied dose
Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
together with a drop in the pre-ejection period, a marker for sympathetic cardiac control.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
We used a within-subject design to study 35 female PTSD patients who received oxytocin and placebo in a 2-week interval.
Show in the study text Report a problemFND-2820915505

Natural levels measured1

These results measure the body's own peptide. Nobody was given the peptide. They are not evidence about taking it. They are left out of key results, evidence counts and charts.

06HumanEndogenous levelObservational studyOther
In 10 healthy individuals, serum endogenous oxytocin levels correlated positively with heart rate both before and after the Trier Social Stress Test.
In plain wordsIn healthy people, the body's own oxytocin levels were linked to higher heart rate before and after a stress test.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
IncreaseCorrelation of endogenous oxytocin with heart rate
Study
n = 10
Outcome group
Heart function · Cardiovascular
Source sentences
Summary
Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between endogenous oxytocin levels and heart rate both before and after TSST challenge in healthy control subjects.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
Furthermore, we performed a small pilot study to get an idea of the relation of the stress-modulated endogenous oxytocin levels and heart rate - we correlated oxytocin serum levels with the heart rate of 10 healthy individuals before and after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).
This result measures the body's own Oxytocin. Nobody was given the peptide. It is not evidence about taking it.
Show in the study text Report a problemFND-2820915506

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

Version 2Current
11 Oct 2026, 01:30 UTC
Study results updated
Version 1
9 Oct 2026, 02:49 UTC
First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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