ArticleJournal of molecular neuroscience : MN2020
Relation of Promoter Methylation of the Oxytocin Gene to Stressful Life Events and Depression Severity.
Article in Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of sex differences in the relationship between hormones and depression in HIV.Psychoneuroendocrinology · 2022Pooled it
- Longitudinal associations of DNA-methylation of OXT, SLC6A4 and NR3C1 genes with the treatment response in patients with depression.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Early life adversity, oxytocin system alterations, and addiction vulnerability: a narrative review.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Activation of the Oxytocin System in the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus Improves Stress-Induced Postpartum Depression-Like Behavior in Rats.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Article
- Intersection of Sex and Depression: Pathogenesis, Presentation, and Treatments.Handbook of experimental pharmacology · 2023Article
- Sex differences in chronic pain-induced mental disorders: Mechanisms of cerebral circuitry.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Primary emotions as predictors for fear of COVID-19 in former inpatients with Major Depressive Disorder and healthy control participants.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Evaluating Methylation of the Oxytocin Receptor Gene and the Oxytocin Intergenic Region.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Article
- Factors related to age at depression onset: the role of SLC6A4 methylation, sex, exposure to stressful life events and personality in a sample of inpatients suffering from major depression.BMC psychiatry · 2021Article
- A Glimpse Into the Sexual Dimorphisms in Major Depressive Disorder Through Epigenetic Studies.Frontiers in neural circuits · 2021Review
- The Potential Role of Epigenetic Drugs in the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT) is a neuropeptide associated with trauma, sociality, and depression. Despite the widely accepted assumption of OT playing a role in the etiology of mood and anxiety disorders, associations between stressful life events, depression, and epigenetic regulation of the gene coding for OT (OXT) have not yet been investigated. We therefore aimed to examine the interrelations of stressful life events, depression severity, and methylation of the promoter region of OXT in a sample of N = 146 inpatients suffering from major depression. We found significant negative associations of stressful life events with mean methylation status as well as with methylation status of single CpG sites in the promoter region of OXT. There was no association between depression severity and OXT methylation. However, there were significant sex differences in methylation status of OXT with women showing higher methylation rates than men, putatively suggesting that in depression OXT is less activated in females compared to males. These results speak against an association of OXT methylation and depression severity, but support the assumption of a dysregulation of the OT system due to life stress. Our findings further emphasize the importance of including sex as an important factor in the investigation of the interrelations between OXT, stress, and depression.
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Registered trials
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