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The effects of intranasal oxytocin in opioid-dependent individuals and healthy control subjects: a pilot study

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Abstract

Rationale

There has been an explosion of research on the potential benefits of the social neuropeptide oxytocin for a number of mental disorders including substance use disorders. Recent evidence suggests that intranasal oxytocin has both direct anti-addiction effects and pro-social effects that may facilitate engagement in psychosocial treatment for substance use disorders.

Objectives

We aimed to assess the tolerability of intranasal oxytocin and its effects on heroin craving, implicit association with heroin and social perceptual ability in opioid-dependent patients receiving opioid replacement therapy (ORT) and healthy control participants.

Methods

We performed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within- and between-subjects, crossover, proof-of-concept trial to examine the effects of oxytocin (40 international units) on a cue-induced craving task (ORT patients only), an Implicit Association Task (IAT), and two social perception tasks: the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task (RMET) and The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT).

Results

Oxytocin was well tolerated by patients receiving ORT but had no significant effects on craving or IAT scores. There was a significant reduction in RMET performance after oxytocin administration versus placebo in the patient group only, and a significant reduction in TASIT performance after oxytocin in both the patient and healthy control groups.

Conclusions

A single dose of intranasal oxytocin is well tolerated by patients receiving ORT, paving the way for future investigations. Despite no significant improvement in craving or IAT scores after a single dose of oxytocin and some evidence that social perception was worsened, further investigation is required to determine the role oxytocin may play in the treatment of opioid use disorder.

Clinical Trial Registration

Methadone Oxytocin Option. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01728909

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the San Francisco Treatment Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, via grant number P50 DA009253 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco, 401 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA

    Josh D. Woolley, Christopher S. Stauffer, Steve Batki & Sophia Vinogradov

  2. Department of Mental Health, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 4150 Clement St (116C-1), San Francisco, CA, 94121, USA

    Josh D. Woolley, Peter A. Arcuni, Christopher S. Stauffer, Steve Batki & Sophia Vinogradov

  3. Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Ave, SAR-512, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Daniel Fulford

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Standford, CA, 94305, USA

    Dean S. Carson

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  1. Josh D. Woolley
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Correspondence to Josh D. Woolley.

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JDW, PAA, CSS, DF, SB, and SV have no conflicts of interest to report. DSC is a full-time employee of Trigemina, Inc. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Trigemina, Inc.

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Woolley, J.D., Arcuni, P.A., Stauffer, C.S. et al. The effects of intranasal oxytocin in opioid-dependent individuals and healthy control subjects: a pilot study. Psychopharmacology 233, 2571–2580 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4308-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-016-4308-8

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