The effect of Oxytocin on Extinction of fear in a Pavlovian Fear- Conditioning Procedure.

A randomised phase III trial to evaluate the effect of Oxyocin on non-clinical conditioned fear in a Pavlovian Fear-Conditioning Procedure to enhance extinction.

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ANZCTR

Registry ID

ACTRN12606000353594

Enrollment

Registered

2006-08-16

Start date

2006-08-04

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-01-13

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

None listed

Brief summary

The aim of this study is to evaluate whether Oxytocin facilitates extinction of conditioned fear. On day 1, participants 2 pictures are conditioned to the shock such that upon presentation of these pictures, participants respond with a fear response as indicated by skin conductance and expectancy measures. One picture is never paired with shock is a referred to as the safe cue. The next day (day 2) participants receive either OT or Placebo and return 45 minutes later. All three pictures are presented in the same way, except one of the pictures that was paird with shock originally is no longer paird with shock. This is called an extinction procedure. Participants then return the following day and are presented with the three pictures. We are assessing their fear response to the pictures with the hypothesis being that those who had the Oxytocin will respond with less of a fear response to the extinguished cue, as measured by skin conductance and expectancy measures, in comparison to those who received the placebo.

Interventions

Participants receive 24 Intranasal Units (IU) of Oxytocin Nasal Spray 45 minuites before an Pavlovian extinction procedure whereby the conditioned stimulus is presented 4 times without the Unconditioned Stimulus (US; shock) over a 4 minute period.

Study design

Allocation

Randomised controlled trial

Intervention model

Parallel

Primary purpose

Treatment

Masking

Blinded (masking used)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Adult university students.

Exclusion criteria

1) severe psychosis, depression, and anxiety didosrders, presence of severe medical illness, 2) smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day, 3) drug or alcohol abuse, 4) any possibility of pregnancy. Subjects are instructed to abstain from food and drink (other than water) for 2 h before the experiment, and from alcohol, smoking and caffeine, or any illegal frugs, for 24 h before the experiment.

Outcome results