Oral Oxytocin Blurs Sex Differences in Amygdala Responses to Emotional Scenes.

Lan C, Kou J, Liu Q, Qing P, Zhang X, Song X, Xu D, Zhang Y, Chen Y, Zhou X, Kendrick KM, Zhao W

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging7 Jun 2024Cited by 3 (Europe PMC)

PMID38852918DOI10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.05.010PepBankPUB-38852918

Publisher page PubMedAsk about this study

Summary

The text of this summary is not shown here, because the article license does not allow reuse. Read it at the source (opens in a new tab)

Text rights: CC BY-NC-ND. Results still quote short attributed sentences.

Results from this study5

4 results from studies that gave the peptide. 4 results from people.

01HumanRandomized controlled trialPharmacokinetics
In healthy men and women, oral oxytocin increased plasma oxytocin concentrations equally in both sexes.
In plain wordsIn healthy men and women, oral oxytocin raised blood oxytocin levels to the same extent in both sexes.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
IncreasePlasma oxytocin concentration after oral oxytocin
Study
n = 147
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Pharmacokinetics · Pharmacology
Studied dose
Dose not stated · oralAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
oral OXT increased OXT concentrations equally in both sexes.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations an…
Report a problemFND-3885291801
02HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism
In healthy participants, oral oxytocin attenuated the sex difference in right amygdala activation to emotional scenes seen under placebo.
In plain wordsIn healthy people, oral oxytocin reduced the sex difference in a brain emotion response seen with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreaseSex difference in right amygdala response to emotional scenes
Study
n = 147
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
Studied dose
Dose not stated · oralAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
This sex difference was either attenuated (amygdala response) or even completely eliminated (amygdala-insula functional connectivity) in the OXT group.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations an…
Report a problemFND-3885291803
03HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism
In healthy participants, oral oxytocin completely eliminated the sex difference in amygdala-insula functional connectivity seen under placebo.
In plain wordsIn healthy people, oral oxytocin removed the sex difference in brain connectivity seen with placebo.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreaseSex difference in amygdala-insula functional connectivity
Study
n = 147
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
Studied dose
Dose not stated · oralAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
This sex difference was either attenuated (amygdala response) or even completely eliminated (amygdala-insula functional connectivity) in the OXT group.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations an…
Report a problemFND-3885291804
04HumanRandomized controlled trialMechanism
In healthy participants, an accurate sex-predictive neural pattern including the amygdala and insula was found under placebo but not under oxytocin.
In plain wordsIn healthy people, brain patterns predicted sex under placebo but not under oral oxytocin.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreaseSex-predictive neural pattern from multivariate pattern analysis
Study
n = 147
Comparator
Placebo
Outcome group
Receptor activity and mechanism · Nervous system and cognition
Studied dose
Dose not stated · oralAs given in this study (human).
Source sentences
Summary
Multivariate pattern analysis confirmed these findings by developing an accurate sex-predictive neural pattern that included the amygdala and the insula under the placebo but not the OXT condition.
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations an…
Report a problemFND-3885291805

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.

05HumanEndogenous levelRandomized controlled trialOther
In healthy participants, women showed lower endogenous oxytocin concentrations than men.
In plain wordsIn healthy people, women had lower natural oxytocin levels than men.
Peptide
Oxytocin
Outcome
DecreaseEndogenous oxytocin concentration, women versus men
Study
n: not reported in source
Comparator
Men
Outcome group
Sex hormones and fertility · Endocrine and hormones
Source sentences
Summary
At the neuroendocrine level, women showed lower endogenous OXT concentrations than men
1 context sentence(design, population, supporting numbers)
Summary · context
The current randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled neuropsychopharmacological functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment was conducted in 147 healthy participants (OXT = 74, men/women = 37/37; placebo = 73, men/women = 36/37) to examine the oral OXT effect on plasma OXT concentrations an…
This result measures the body's own Oxytocin. Nobody was given the peptide. It is not evidence about taking it.
Report a problemFND-3885291802

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, 00:50 UTC
Study results updated
Version 1
9 Oct 2026, 02:48 UTC
First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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