TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of intranasal oxytocin on distraction as emotion regulation strategy in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder
AU - Koch, Saskia B.J.
AU - van Zuiden, Mirjam
AU - Nawijn, Laura
AU - Frijling, Jessie L.
AU - Veltman, Dick J.
AU - Olff, Miranda
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by difficulty down-regulating emotional responses towards trauma-reminders. The neuropeptide oxytocin may enhance treatment response in PTSD, by dampening excessive fear and improving fear regulation. However, oxytocin effects on (neural correlates of) cognitive emotion regulation abilities have never been investigated in PTSD patients. Therefore, we investigated behavioral and neural effects of intranasal oxytocin administration (40IU) on distraction as emotion regulation strategy in male and female police officers with and without PTSD (n = 76), using a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over fMRI study. The distraction condition consisted of a working memory task while negative affective pictures were presented. Under placebo, male PTSD patients showed decreased right striatal activity during distraction compared to male trauma-exposed controls, which was unaffected by oxytocin. After oxytocin administration, left thalamus activity during distraction was enhanced in all participants, independent of PTSD status or sex. Although left thalamus activity during distraction did not differ between PTSD patients and controls under placebo, it was negatively correlated with error rates within PTSD patients. Furthermore, oxytocin administration increased functional connectivity between the left thalamus and amygdala in PTSD patients and male trauma-exposed controls. Upregulation of thalamus activity during distraction by oxytocin may enhance cognitive emotion regulation abilities during psychotherapy in PTSD, although this should still be investigated in a clinical setting. Our findings open an important research avenue into oxytocin effects on cognitive emotion regulation in PTSD and other psychiatric disorders characterized by deficient emotion regulation abilities. Registered in the Netherlands Trial Registry, registration number: NTR3516
AB - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by difficulty down-regulating emotional responses towards trauma-reminders. The neuropeptide oxytocin may enhance treatment response in PTSD, by dampening excessive fear and improving fear regulation. However, oxytocin effects on (neural correlates of) cognitive emotion regulation abilities have never been investigated in PTSD patients. Therefore, we investigated behavioral and neural effects of intranasal oxytocin administration (40IU) on distraction as emotion regulation strategy in male and female police officers with and without PTSD (n = 76), using a randomized placebo-controlled cross-over fMRI study. The distraction condition consisted of a working memory task while negative affective pictures were presented. Under placebo, male PTSD patients showed decreased right striatal activity during distraction compared to male trauma-exposed controls, which was unaffected by oxytocin. After oxytocin administration, left thalamus activity during distraction was enhanced in all participants, independent of PTSD status or sex. Although left thalamus activity during distraction did not differ between PTSD patients and controls under placebo, it was negatively correlated with error rates within PTSD patients. Furthermore, oxytocin administration increased functional connectivity between the left thalamus and amygdala in PTSD patients and male trauma-exposed controls. Upregulation of thalamus activity during distraction by oxytocin may enhance cognitive emotion regulation abilities during psychotherapy in PTSD, although this should still be investigated in a clinical setting. Our findings open an important research avenue into oxytocin effects on cognitive emotion regulation in PTSD and other psychiatric disorders characterized by deficient emotion regulation abilities. Registered in the Netherlands Trial Registry, registration number: NTR3516
KW - Distraction
KW - Emotion regulation
KW - Oxytocin
KW - PTSD
KW - Thalamus
KW - fMRI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85058247132&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85058247132&origin=inward
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.12.002
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2018.12.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 30554861
SN - 0924-977X
VL - 29
SP - 266
EP - 277
JO - European neuropsychopharmacology
JF - European neuropsychopharmacology
IS - 2
ER -