Vasopressin and the Social Brain

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

Status and phase: Completed; Early Phase 1

Conditions: Social Psychology

Treatments: Drug: Intranasal placebo; Drug: Intranasal vasopressin

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02394054

11-003565-3

Details and patient eligibility

About

It has long been established that interpersonal relationships can have a profound impact on health and well-being. Yet, the investigators are still learning about the complex biological processes that contribute to positive social interactions and the ability to develop and maintain social relationships. Recent research has begun to focus on vasopressin, a neuropeptide that is naturally produced in the hypothalamus, because administration of this neuropeptide has been associated with empathy, cooperation, memory of social stimuli (e.g., faces), and brain activity in neural regions associated with social and emotional processes. To date, several aspects of vasopressin's effects on social behavior have been unexplored. As such, the overarching goal of this project is to examine the effects of intranasal vasopressin on several tasks involving learning and social processes. In addition, the investigators will explore associated neural activity through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results from the study will inform our understanding of the neurobiology of socioemotional processes.

The investigators hypothesize that compared to placebo, vasopressin will improve deception detection, increase empathy and altruism, enhance responses to photo stimuli of primary caregivers, and improve learning when the subject has a prosocial goal of teaching another person. These effects will manifest in behavioral and neural activity. It is also hypothesized that main effects will not be found for vasopressin, but rather, analyses of relevant moderators will elucidate these findings.

Enrollment: 84 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 30 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18-30 years of age
• Healthy (see below)
• Fluent in English
• Right-handed

Exclusion criteria

• Women who gave birth in the last six months, are currently pregnant, planning to become pregnant in the next 6 months, or currently breastfeeding women
• Symptoms of runny nose due to allergies/cold or other reason
• Current restricted fluid intake for any reason
• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• History of myocardial infarction
• History of cardiac arrhythmia
• Kidney or liver disease
• Vascular disease
• Epilepsy
• Migraine
• Asthma
• Nephritis
• Diabetes and other endocrine diseases
• Frequent or unexplained fainting
• History of stroke
• Aneurysm or brain hemorrhage
• Active psychiatric diagnosis
• Current psychopharmacologic treatment
• Drug or alcohol abuse
• Medical or neurological illness
• Regular use of medication (e.g., vasoconstrictive medications)
• Medication intake less than 2 weeks prior to study (5 weeks for fluoxetine) including daily non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
• Smoking more than 15 cigarettes a day
• Consumption of any alcoholic beverages in the past 24 hours will be excluded
• Elevated blood pressure (>135/90)
• Low blood pressure (<90/55)
• Body temperature >100.1 F
• Left-handed
• Claustrophobia
• Presence of metal in their body

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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84 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Intranasal vasopressin

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will self-administer 20 IU vasopressin (American Regent Pharmaceuticals). 5 puffs per nostril (1 puff = 2 IU vasopressin).

Treatment:

Drug: Intranasal vasopressin

Intranasal placebo

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

2 mls Glycerine and 3 mls purified water (methylparaben and propylparaben mixed according to purified water formula) for a total of 5 ml, which will be filtered with a 5mu filter. Participants will self-administer 5 puffs per nostril.

Treatment:

Drug: Intranasal placebo