ArticleInternational journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology2019
Associations between oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) methylation, plasma oxytocin, and attachment across adulthood.
Article in International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers.
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Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 74 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intranasal oxytocin modulates the salience network in aging.NeuroImage · 2022Trial
- Oxytocin alters patterns of brain activity and amygdalar connectivity by age during dynamic facial emotion identification.Neurobiology of aging · 2019Trial
- Environmental and Genetic Contributions to Attachment in Late Adolescence and Young Adulthood.Child psychiatry and human development · 2026Article
- An epigenetic framework for understanding contextual influences on neural and socio-emotional development: Narrative review and case-study of the oxytocin receptor.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2026Review
- Early life adversity, oxytocin system alterations, and addiction vulnerability: a narrative review.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Early life adversity impairs visually evoked innate defensive behaviors via oxytocin signaling.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Parental behavior, adult attachment, and DNA methylation of the MT2 oxytocin receptor gene region - The moderating role of neuroticism.PloS one · 2026Article
- Updated Freudian drive theory: childhood trauma, epigenetics, serotonin and beta endorphin.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Epigenetics, Resilience, Protective Factors and Factors Promoting Positive Outcomes: A Scoping Review.International journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience · 2025Article
- The role of oxytocin as an indicator of outcome and therapeutic alliance.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2025Article
- Interplay of plasma Oxytocin and oxytocin receptor gene methylation levels on empathy in older adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Brain serotonin, oxytocin, and their interaction: Relevance for eating disorders.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2025Review
- Effects of human-animal interaction on salivary and urinary oxytocin in children and dogs.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2024Article
- A narrative on the neurobiological roots of attachment-system functioning.Communications psychology · 2024Review
- A perspective-based analysis of attachment from prenatal period to second year postnatal life.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- Single dose intranasal oxytocin administration: Data from healthy younger and older adults.Data in brief · 2023Article
- Maternal outcomes related to Genetic and epigenetic Variation in the oxytocin system: A scoping review.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2023Article
- Epigenetic modification of the oxytocin receptor gene is associated with child-parent neural synchrony during competition.Developmental cognitive neuroscience · 2023Article
- DNA methylation of the oxytocin receptor interacts with age to impact neural response to social stimuli.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
- Elevated Oxytocin Receptor Blood Concentrations Predict Higher Risk for, More, and Earlier 24-Month Hospital Readmissions after In-Patient Detoxification in Males with Alcohol Use Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in a wide range of affiliative processes. OT exerts its functions via OT receptors, which are encoded by the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR). Epigenetic modification of OXTR through the process of DNA methylation has been associated with individual differences in behavioral phenotypes. Specifically, lower levels of OXTR methylation have been linked to better social and affective functioning. However, research on epigenetic mechanisms of OXTR is scarce in non-clinical populations, and even less is known about epigenetic variability across adulthood. The present study assessed methylation levels at OXTR CpG site -934 and plasma OT levels in 22 young (20-31 years, M = 23.6) and 34 older (63-80 years, M = 71.4) participants. Lower levels of OXTR methylation and higher plasma OT levels were associated with less self-reported attachment anxiety in young but not older participants, with largely independent contributions of OXTR methylation and plasma OT levels. In contrast, in the overall sample, lower levels of OXTR methylation were associated with higher self-reported attachment avoidance. Age analysis suggested that these results were largely driven by young adults. Plasma OT levels were unrelated to attachment avoidance. Taken together, these findings support the emerging notion in the literature that epigenetic properties of OXTR, in addition to endogenous OT levels, are related to adult attachment. Further, the age effects observed in the associations between OXTR methylation, plasma OT, and adult attachment emphasize the importance of adopting a developmental perspective when studying properties of the OT system and their relation to affiliative processes. Findings contribute to growing evidence suggesting that epigenetic modification of genes regulating OT pathways and endogenous OT levels are associated with the way people form and maintain intimate social relationships.
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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.