ArticlePsychopharmacology2015
Oxytocin and MDMA ('Ecstasy') enhance social reward in rats.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Systematic Review of the MDMA Model to Address Social Impairment in Autism.Current neuropharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Effects of MDMA on attention to positive social cues and pleasantness of affective touch.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2019Trial
- Untangling Mephedrone-Induced Social Reward in Rats-The Involvement of Oxytocin and Vasopressin VGenes, brain, and behavior · 2026Article
- History, pharmacology and therapeutic mechanisms of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).British journal of pharmacology · 2026Review
- The Role of Oxytocin and Vasopressin in Drug-Induced Reward-Implications for Social and Non-Social Factors.Biomolecules · 2023Review
- Neurobiology of Maternal Behavior in Nonhuman Mammals: Acceptance, Recognition, Motivation, and Rejection.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Peer-induced cocaine seeking in rats: Comparison to nonsocial stimuli and role of paraventricular hypothalamic oxytocin neurons.Addiction biology · 2022Article
- A neurobiological perspective on social influence: Serotonin and social adaptation.Journal of neurochemistry · 2022Review
- MDMA treatment paired with a trauma-cue promotes adaptive stress responses in a translational model of PTSD in rats.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- The modulation of emotional and social behaviors by oxytocin signaling in limbic network.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2022Review
- Lack of evidence for positive reinforcing and prosocial effects of MDMA in pair-housed male and female rats.European journal of pharmacology · 2021Article
- Vulnerability factors for mephedrone-induced conditioned place preference in rats-the impact of sex differences, social-conditioning and stress.Psychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Effect of early life social adversity on drug abuse vulnerability: Focus on corticotropin-releasing factor and oxytocin.Neuropharmacology · 2021Review
- The Effects of Drugs on Behavior Maintained by Social Contact: Role of Monoamines in Social Reinforcement.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Article
- Differential sensitivity to detect prosocial effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in different social approach paradigms in mice.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2020Article
- An insular view of the social decision-making network.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2019Review
- Sensitization to the prosocial effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).Neuropharmacology · 2019Article
- Oxytocin improves probabilistic reversal learning but not effortful motivation in Brown Norway rats.Neuropharmacology · 2019Article
- Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2018Review
- Sex differences in neural activation following different routes of oxytocin administration in awake adult rats.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleOxytocin (OT), vasopressin (AVP) and 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'Ecstasy') all increase social interaction in rats, perhaps by enhancing the rewarding value of social encounters.
objectivesHere, we used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to assess the intrinsic rewarding effects of OT, AVP and MDMA, and whether these effects are enhanced by the presence of a conspecific, or a dynamic, tactile object (a tennis ball).
methodsAdult male rats received conditioning sessions in a CPP apparatus twice a day (vehicle at 10 a.m., drug at 3 p.m.). Experiment 1 involved conditioning with OT (0.5 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (i.p.)), AVP (0.005 mg/kg, i.p.) or MDMA (5 mg/kg, i.p.). Experiments 2 and 3 involved conditioning with the same treatments but in the presence of a conspecific receiving the same treatment (social-CPP) or in the presence of a tennis ball (object-CPP), respectively. Conditioned place preference was assessed 24 h, 2 weeks and 4 weeks later.
resultsOT, AVP and MDMA did not produce a conventional CPP. However, when the conditioning environment also contained a conspecific both OT and MDMA induced a significant CPP lasting for at least 4 weeks. Rats given OT and MDMA also developed a more modest yet significant CPP for the environment where they encountered a tennis ball.
conclusionsThese results indicate that OT and MDMA can augment the rewarding effects of social interaction, but also interaction with a dynamic and tactile non-social object. AVP does not condition social- or object-CPPs and may promote social proximity by inducing generalized anxiety and defensive aggregation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.