Recent interest has focused on oxytocin (OT), a neurotransmitter that promotes social processing, to improve social functioning in people with schizophrenia. However, little information is available regarding the doses of OT that are effective for influencing social processing in the brain (i.e., target engagement). In this study, we conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over dose ranging study of OT. In total 47 patients with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to one of eight doses of OT (8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, or 84 IU). Patients completed two social processing tasks: one electroencephalography (EEG) task, a biological motion Mu-suppression task (i.e., identifying the gender, emotion, or direction of walking of point-light animations of human movement); and one pupillometry task, pupil dilation in response to viewing affective faces. Participants completed these tasks twice, one week apart, and were randomly administered drug or placebo intranasally 30 min prior to each session. Mu-suppression, i.e., suppression of oscillations in the 8-12 Hz range over central electrodes in response to social stimuli, was significantly enhanced at doses of 36 and 48 IU in comparison to placebo, but not at other doses. Significant pupil dilation was observed in response to faces vs. non-face stimuli, though there were no drug effects at any dose. Results suggest that OT affects central measures of social information processing in patients with schizophrenia and is optimal at a mid-range dose (36-48 IU). These results provide dosing guidance for future studies of OT to be used to enhance social processing in people with schizophrenia.

中文翻译：

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使用社会处理的神经生理学测量催产素的剂量发现研究。

最近的兴趣集中在催产素 (OT)，一种促进社会处理的神经递质，以改善精神分裂症患者的社会功能。然而，关于有效影响大脑社会处理（即目标参与）的 OT 剂量的信息很少。在这项研究中，我们对 OT 进行了一项双盲、安慰剂对照、交叉剂量范围研究。总共有 47 名精神分裂症患者被随机分配到八种 OT 剂量（8、12、24、36、48、60、72 或 84 IU）中的一种。患者完成了两项社会处理任务：一项脑电图（EEG）任务，一项生物运动 Mu 抑制任务（即识别人类运动的点光源动画的性别、情绪或行走方向）；和一项瞳孔测量任务，响应于观看情感面孔的瞳孔扩张。参与者完成这些任务两次，相隔一周，并在每次会议前 30 分钟随机给予药物或安慰剂鼻内给药。与安慰剂相比，在 36 和 48 IU 的剂量下，Mu 抑制，即在中央电极上抑制 8-12 Hz 范围内的振荡以响应社会刺激，显着增强，但在其他剂量下则没有。尽管在任何剂量下都没有药物作用，但在对面部刺激与非面部刺激的反应中观察到显着的瞳孔扩张。结果表明，OT 影响精神分裂症患者社会信息处理的中心测量，并且在中等剂量 (36-48 IU) 时是最佳的。这些结果为未来的 OT 研究提供了剂量指导，用于增强精神分裂症患者的社会处理。