Oxytocin and Brain Responses in Maternal Addiction

Summary

A prior study by the principal investigator of this project identified dopamine- and oxytocin-related brain pathways that showed a diminished response when addicted mothers viewed the faces of their own vs. unknown infants, compared with non-addicted mothers. These areas include the hypothalamus, striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. In addition, the investigators plan to examine activation patterns within the salience network, which includes the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide with decreased blood levels seen in addicted mothers, is integrally involved in maternal brain and behavioral responses. When administered intranasally, the pilot data has shown enhanced activation of the striatum, prefrontal cortex (PFC) and amygdala. The purpose of this study is to continue and expand upon the previous investigation of maternal addiction, by conducting a randomized, double-blinded, placebo controlled, crossover study of intranasal oxytocin on maternal brain responses. 150 mothers from the University of Iowa and the Yale Child Study Center will be enrolled (75 with a history of drug addiction and 75 matched control mothers), along with their 2 to 12-month-old infants, to participate in four study visits over a two-month period.

Timeline

Start

2017-05-05

Primary completion

2021-05-17

Completion

2021-05-17

Outcome

Outcome not reported

Stopped (Enrollment): “Unable to recruit proposed study sample size due to COVID restrictions.”

Publications

• Background SAMHSA, "Results from the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Summary of National Findings" (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Rockville, MD, 2012).
• Background Chaffin M, Kelleher K, Hollenberg J. Onset of physical abuse and neglect: psychiatric, substance abuse, and social risk factors from prospective community data. Child Abuse Negl. 1996 Mar;20(3):191-203. doi: 10.1016/s0145-2134(95)00144-1.
• Background Rutherford HJ, Williams SK, Moy S, Mayes LC, Johns JM. Disruption of maternal parenting circuitry by addictive process: rewiring of reward and stress systems. Front Psychiatry. 2011 Jul 6;2:37. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2011.00037. eCollection 2011.
• Background Strathearn L, Li J, Fonagy P, Montague PR. What's in a smile? Maternal brain responses to infant facial cues. Pediatrics. 2008 Jul;122(1):40-51. doi: 10.1542/peds.2007-1566.
• Background Kim S, Fonagy P, Allen J, Strathearn L. Mothers' unresolved trauma blunts amygdala response to infant distress. Soc Neurosci. 2014;9(4):352-63. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2014.896287. Epub 2014 Mar 17.
• Background L. C. Mayes, R. Feldman, R. Granger, The effects of polydrug use with and without cocaine on mother infant interaction at 3 and 6 months. Infant behavior & development 20, 489 (1997).
• Background Strathearn L, Mayes LC. Cocaine addiction in mothers: potential effects on maternal care and infant development. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Feb;1187:172-83. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05142.x.
• Background Strathearn L, Mertens CE, Mayes L, Rutherford H, Rajhans P, Xu G, Potenza MN, Kim S. Pathways Relating the Neurobiology of Attachment to Drug Addiction. Front Psychiatry. 2019 Nov 8;10:737. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00737. eCollection 2019.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.