Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32807845›Full record

ReviewMolecular psychiatry2021

Advances in the field of intranasal oxytocin research: lessons learned and future directions for clinical research.

Daniel S Quintana, Alexander Lischke, Sally Grace, Dirk Scheele, Yina Ma, Benjamin Becker

Open access · hybridAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Molecular psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 122 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
122citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
31.6field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

122 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 259 citations in OpenAlex.

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  8. Post-encoding administration of oxytocin selectively enhances memory consolidation of male faces in females.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
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  13. Effects of intranasal oxytocin on fear extinction learning.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
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62 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.

Daniel S QuintanaNorwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. daniel.quintana@medisin.uio.no.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2876-0004
Alexander LischkeDepartment of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8322-2287
Sally GraceSchool of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1556-1292
Dirk ScheeleDivision of Medical Psychology, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7613-0376
Yina MaState Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5457-0354
Benjamin BeckerThe Clinical Hospital of the Chengdu Brain Science Institute, Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation, School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Information in Medicine, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. ben_becker@gmx.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9014-9671
Australian Catholic University · AUBeijing Normal University · CNCarl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg · DEOslo University Hospital · NOUniversität Greifswald · DEUniversity of Electronic Science and Technology of China · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Reports on the modulatory role of the neuropeptide oxytocin on social cognition and behavior have steadily increased over the last two decades, stimulating considerable interest in its psychiatric application. Basic and clinical research in humans primarily employs intranasal application protocols. This approach assumes that intranasal administration increases oxytocin levels in the central nervous system via a direct nose-to-brain route, which in turn acts upon centrally-located oxytocin receptors to exert its behavioral effects. However, debates have emerged on whether intranasally administered oxytocin enters the brain via the nose-to-brain route and whether this route leads to functionally relevant increases in central oxytocin levels. In this review we outline recent advances from human and animal research that provide converging evidence for functionally relevant effects of the intranasal oxytocin administration route, suggesting that direct nose-to-brain delivery underlies the behavioral effects of oxytocin on social cognition and behavior. Moreover, advances in previously debated methodological issues, such as pre-registration, reproducibility, statistical power, interpretation of non-significant results, dosage, and sex differences are discussed and integrated with suggestions for the next steps in translating intranasal oxytocin into psychiatric applications.

Indexed as

Biomedical ResearchSocial BehaviorAdministration, IntranasalAnimalsBehavioral ResearchBrainHumansNoseOxytocinReceptors, OxytocinSex CharacteristicsOxytocinReceptors, Oxytocin

Identifiers

PMID32807845
PMCPMC7815514
OpenAlexW3049568087

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.