Intranasal oxytocin, but not vasopressin, augments neural responses to toddlers in human fathers

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Ting Li, Emory University; Xu Chen, Emory University; Jennifer Streiffer Mascaro, Emory University; Ebrahim Haroon, Emory University; James K Rilling, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2017-07-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2017 Elsevier Inc.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.01.006
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Hormones and Behavior
• ISSN: 0018-506X
• Volume: 93
• Start Page: 193
• End Page: 202
• Grant/Funding Information: This study was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [grant R21HD078778] and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health [award number UL1TR000454].
• Keywords: Oxytocin; INFANT; BRAIN REWARD SYSTEM; RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED-TRIAL; ADULT ATTACHMENT; Endocrinology & Metabolism; CINGULATE CORTEX; SOCIAL COGNITION; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; Father; Vasopressin; EMPATHY; MATERNAL-BEHAVIOR; PATERNAL BEHAVIOR; Behavioral Sciences; fMRI; SEXUAL STIMULI
• Research Categories: Anthropology, Medical and Forensic; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

This study investigates paternal brain function with the hope of better understanding the neural basis for variation in caregiving involvement among men. The neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) are implicated in paternal caregiving in humans and other species. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject pharmaco-functional MRI experiment, we randomized 30 fathers of 1–2 year old children to receive either 24 IU intranasal OT before one scan and placebo before the other scan (n = 15) or 20 IU intranasal AVP before one scan and placebo before the other scan (n = 15). Brain function was measured with fMRI as the fathers viewed pictures of their children, unknown children and unknown adults, and as they listened to unknown infant cry stimuli. Intranasal OT, but not AVP, significantly increased the BOLD fMRI response to viewing pictures of own children within the caudate nucleus, a target of midbrain dopamine projections, as well as the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and visual cortex, suggesting that intranasal oxytocin augments activation in brain regions involved in reward, empathy and attention in human fathers. OT effects also varied as a function of order of administration such that when OT was given before placebo, it increased activation within several reward-related structures (substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, putamen) more than when it was given after placebo. Neither OT nor AVP had significant main effects on the neural response to cries. Our findings suggest that the hormonal changes associated with the transition to fatherhood are likely to facilitate increased approach motivation and empathy for children, and call for future research that evaluates the potential of OT to normalize deficits in paternal motivation, as might be found among men suffering from post-partum depression.