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Study · Randomized controlled trial · n = 20 · 2025

2 results

Intranasal oxytocin modulates brain activity during emotional processing in children with treatment resistant conduct problems.

O' Brien S, Sethi A, Blair J, Tully J, Martins D, Velthuis H, Petrinovic MM, Scott S, Blackwood N, Murphy DGM, Craig MC

Scientific reports3 Apr 2025Cited by 2 (Europe PMC)

PMID40180973 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC11968994 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1038/s41598-025-92276-2 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-40180973
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Summary

One of the most highly replicated neural correlates of Conduct Problems (CP) is amygdala hypoactivity to another person's fear. We recently reported that this correlate was only observed in boys with persistent CP (i.e. antisocial behaviour that persisted following a gold-standard psychological intervention), suggesting that amygdala hypoactivity to fear could be an important neural signature for treatment-resistant CP, and a putative target for future treatments. Potential treatment candidates include the oxytocin system, as this has been reported to modulate amygdala activity and social behaviour across species. Further, in adults with antisocial personality disorder, intranasal oxytocin improved facial emotion recognition for fearful and happy faces. However, to-date, no-one has studied whether intranasal oxytocin can normalise neural processing differences in children with CP. Twenty boys (mean age 9.85±1.26 years) with persistent CP underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a within-subject randomised control design to investigate whether, compared to placebo, a single-dose of intranasal oxytocin could 'shift' abnormal neural processing to fear. Oxytocin failed to reduce amygdala hypoactivity to fearful faces, but increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex / precuneus to happy faces. These findings tentatively suggest that intranasal oxytocin may promote a more neurotypical profile in treatment-resistant CP children, therefore, supporting the merit of investigating oxytocin in further larger clinical studies in this population.
CC BYText from Europe PMC. Highlighted sentences are the source of results.

Results from this study2

2 results from studies that gave the peptide. 2 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In boys with persistent conduct problems, a single dose of intranasal oxytocin did not reduce amygdala hypoactivity to fearful faces compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn boys with conduct problems, one dose of nasal oxytocin did not change the low amygdala response to fearful faces, compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    No significant changeAmygdala hypoactivity to fearful faces
    Study

    n = 20

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · single doseAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    Oxytocin failed to reduce amygdala hypoactivity to fearful faces, but increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex / precuneus to happy faces.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Twenty boys (mean age 9.85±1.26 years) with persistent CP underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a within-subject randomised control design to investigate whether, compared to placebo, a single-dose of intranasal oxytocin could 'shift' abnormal neural processing to fear.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In boys with persistent conduct problems, a single dose of intranasal oxytocin increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex / precuneus to happy faces compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn boys with conduct problems, one dose of nasal oxytocin raised brain activity in a social-processing area when they saw happy faces, compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreasePosterior cingulate cortex / precuneus activation to happy faces
    Study

    n = 20

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Brain and neuronal activity · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasal · single doseAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    but increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex / precuneus to happy faces.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Twenty boys (mean age 9.85±1.26 years) with persistent CP underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a within-subject randomised control design to investigate whether, compared to placebo, a single-dose of intranasal oxytocin could 'shift' abnormal neural processing to fear.

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.

  1. Version 2Current

    11 Oct 2026, 00:50 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:47 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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