Common and dissociable effects of oxytocin and lorazepam on the neurocircuitry of fear

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1920147117
• Publication Date: 2020-05-09T00:45:30Z
• Authors: Ann-Kathrin Kreuder; Dirk Scheele; Johannes Schultz; Juergen Hennig; Nina Marsh; Torge Dellert; Ulrich Ettinger; Alexandra Philipsen; Mari Babasiz; Angela Herscheid; Laura Remmersmann; Ruediger Stirnberg; Tony Stöcker; René Hurlemann
• Keywords: Adult; Male; drug effects [Fear]; Neurotransmitter Agents; Fear; physiology [Amygdala]; Amygdala; Lorazepam; Oxytocin; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; 3. Good health; pharmacology [Neurotransmitter Agents]; pharmacology [Lorazepam]; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; pharmacology [Oxytocin]; Humans; ddc:500; diagnostic imaging [Amygdala]; drug effects [Amygdala]; physiology [Fear]

Significance A potential new target for anxiolytic drug development is the oxytocin (OXT) neuropeptide system. An emerging question is whether OXT has similar effects on the neural microcircuitry of fear compared with clinically established compounds such as benzodiazepines. The present functional MRI study showed that both OXT and its benzodiazepine comparator lorazepam (LZP) reduced centromedial amygdala responses to fear signals. OXT, but not LZP, increased extra-amygdalar connectivity between the centromedial amygdala and frontoparietal regions. Thus, while both compounds inhibited the centromedial amygdala, OXT, but not LZP, elicited large-scale connectivity changes of potential therapeutic relevance.