@article{b5405ae33312411fa230536bdd853fc2,
title = "Peripheral oxytocin is associated with reduced symptom severity in schizophrenia",
abstract = "Background: Emerging evidence from clinical trials suggests that oral estrogen and intranasal oxytocin might reduce symptom severity in schizophrenia. Whether increases in endogenous hormones are similarly associated with improved symptoms is unknown. We investigated the effects of menstrual cycle phase and related fluctuations in peripheral hormone levels on clinical symptoms in women with chronic schizophrenia. Method: Twenty-three women with schizophrenia were administered the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), a measure of clinical symptom severity, at two menstrual cycle phases: 1) early follicular (Days 2-4; low estrogen/progesterone) and 2) midluteal (Days 20-22; high estrogen/progesterone). Twenty-seven males with schizophrenia and 58 controls (31 female) completed testing at comparable intervals. Men were included to examine whether the relationships between clinical symptoms and hormone levels in women generalize to men. Plasma hormone assays of estrogen, oxytocin, progesterone, and testosterone were obtained. Results: Female patients showed less severe symptoms during the midluteal versus early follicular phase (p's < 0.01). Oxytocin did not fluctuate across phases, but in female patients (p's < 0.01) higher oxytocin levels were associated with less severe positive symptoms and overall psychopathology. In both sexes, higher oxytocin levels were associated with more prosocial behaviors (p< 0.05). Conclusion: Consistent with previous findings in acutely ill patients, our results suggest that clinical symptoms vary across the menstrual cycle in patients with chronic schizophrenia. Similar to recent findings regarding benefits of intranasal oxytocin, these new findings indicate that high levels of endogenous oxytocin might improve positive symptom severity and general psychopathology in women and social behaviors in both sexes.",
keywords = "Estrogen, Menstrual cycle, Oxytocin, Progesterone, Schizophrenia",
author = "Rubin, {Leah H.} and Carter, {C. Sue} and Lauren Drogos and Hossein Pournajafi-Nazarloo and Sweeney, {John A.} and Maki, {Pauline M.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by Award Number F31MH082480 from the National Institute of Mental Health . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health. Other support for this work was by a Psi Chi Graduate Research Grant, by the Alice J. Dan Dissertation Award from the UIC Center for Research on Women and Gender (CRWG), and by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), Award Number UL1RR029879 from the National Center for Research Resources , and by the Core Lab of the GCRC/CNRU at the University of Alabama , which is supported by NIH grants M01-RR-00032, P30-DK56336). Validation of the oxytocin assay was supported by MH 072935 (CSC). Dr. Sweeney is supported by a Humboldt Research Award for Senior Research Scientists. We would also like to thank Erin Eatough, Antonia Savarese, Jill Breit, Pamela Perschler, Stephanie Klenotich, Jessica Jandak, and Melissa Arcabos for their assistance with this study. Special thanks goes to Ellen Herbener, Jim Pellegrino, Julie Dumas, Cherise Rosen, Sheila Dowd, Sandra Wilkniss and the Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center, and the Center for Cognitive Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Funding Information: Dr. Sweeney is a consultant to Pfizer and has a research grant from Janssen. Dr. Maki received honoraria from the American Nutraceutical Association and research support from the Soy Health Research Program. All other authors declare that, except for income received from their primary employer, no financial support or compensation has been received from any individual or corporate entity over the past 3 years for research or professional service, and there are no personal financial holdings that could be perceived as constituting a potential conflict of interest. ",
year = "2010",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1016/j.schres.2010.09.014",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "124",
pages = "13--21",
journal = "Schizophrenia Research",
issn = "0920-9964",
publisher = "Elsevier",
number = "1-3",
}