TY  - JOUR
AU  - Striepens, Nadine
AU  - Matusch, Andreas
AU  - Kendrick, Keith M
AU  - Mihov, Yoan
AU  - Elmenhorst, David
AU  - Becker, Benjamin
AU  - Lang, Markus
AU  - Coenen, Heinz H
AU  - Maier, Wolfgang
AU  - Hurlemann, René
AU  - Bauer, Andreas
TI  - Oxytocin enhances attractiveness of unfamiliar female faces independent of the dopamine reward system.
JO  - Psychoneuroendocrinology
VL  - 39
SN  - 0306-4530
CY  - Amsterdam [u.a.]
PB  - Elsevier Science
M1  - DZNE-2020-03574
SP  - 74-87
PY  - 2014
AB  - Evidence from animal studies suggests that the social attraction and bonding effects of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) are mediated by its modulation of dopamine (DA) release in brain reward centers, but this has not yet been demonstrated in humans. DA release can be measured by positron emission tomography (PET) using the radioligand [11C]raclopride. Its binding to DA D2 receptors (D2R) is sensitive and reciprocally related to endogenous DA, especially in the striatum. In a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled within-subjects trial on 18 adult male volunteers we combined [11C]raclopride PET and a facial attractiveness rating task to establish whether intranasal OXT (24 IU) increased both the perceived attractiveness of unfamiliar female faces and striatal DA release compared with placebo administration. While our behavioral data confirmed that subjects rated unfamiliar female faces as more attractive following OXT treatment, and this correlated with an increased perfusion rate in the striatum, there was no evidence for altered [11C]raclopride binding in the striatum or pallidum. Instead under OXT we rather observed an increased [11C]raclopride binding and reduced perfusion rate in subregions of the right dorsomedial prefrontal gyrus and superior parietal gyrus. The absence of OXT effects on dopamine release and D2 receptors in brain reward centers, despite increased striatal activity, implies that the peptide may facilitate perceived attraction via non-dopaminergic actions.
KW  - Adult
KW  - Corpus Striatum: diagnostic imaging
KW  - Corpus Striatum: drug effects
KW  - Corpus Striatum: metabolism
KW  - Dopamine: metabolism
KW  - Double-Blind Method
KW  - Face
KW  - Female
KW  - Humans
KW  - Male
KW  - Oxytocin: pharmacology
KW  - Raclopride: pharmacology
KW  - Radionuclide Imaging
KW  - Raclopride (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Oxytocin (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Dopamine (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:24275006
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.09.026
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/137252
ER  -