We demonstrate distinct patterns of OXTR gene expression in the developing brain, with increasing oxytocin receptor (OXTR) expression along the course of the prenatal period culminating in a peak during early childhood. We also show that a network of genes with strong spatiotemporal couplings with OXTR is enriched in several psychiatric illness and body composition phenotypes. Taken together, these results demonstrate that oxytocin signaling plays an important role in a diverse set of psychological and somatic processes across the lifespan.
Older adults have been neglected in biobehavioral oxytocin research. Emerging research indicates that oxytocin signaling activity fluctuates over the lifespan, which suggests that results from studies investigating youth and young adults cannot be …
The neuropeptide oxytocin has garnered considerable interest for its role in social behavior and its potential for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses characterised by social dysfunction, such as autism. However, initial excitement has turned to disappointment with some studies failing to replicate earlier results, which has been attributed to issues surrounding research methods, mechanistic understanding, and theory development. In this talk, I discuss efforts to improve research methods to enhance reproducibility, including precise sample size estimation, synthetic datasets, and ways to test evidence for null models
We outline how the precision of intranasal oxytocin research can be improved by the complementary consideration of methodology, theory and reproducibility
In this review we outline recent advances from human and animal research that provide converging evidence for functionally relevant effects of the intranasal oxytocin administration route, suggesting that direct nose-to-brain delivery underlies the behavioral effects of oxytocin on social cognition and behavior
A growing number of studies suggest that social isolation and loneliness are associated with premature mortality and are more prevalent among people with mental illness than in the general population, outlining many potential paths to disease still …
The measurement of gene expression levels in the human brain can help accelerate our understanding of complex mental states and psychiatric illnesses. Mental states are typically associated with whole-brain networks, however, gene expression levels …
The neuropeptide oxytocin has attracted substantial research interest for its role in behaviour and cognition; however, the evidence for its effects have been mixed. Meta-analysis is viewed as the gold-standard for synthesizing evidence, but the …
Intranasal oxytocin (OXT) has been associated with effects on diverse social-emotional domains in humans, however progress towards a therapeutic application of OXT in disorders with social-emotion impairments is currently hampered by poor …