ReviewPediatric research2025
The impact of the early environment on oxytocin receptor epigenetics and potential therapeutic implications.
Review in Pediatric research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multidimensional maturation of oxytocin neurons: A principal component analysis of postnatal development.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Early life adversity, oxytocin system alterations, and addiction vulnerability: a narrative review.Psychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Experiences in close relationships, interpersonal trust and OXTR expression in individuals with childhood maltreatment.Borderline personality disorder and emotion dysregulation · 2026Article
- Unraveling the impact of oxytocin receptor gene methylation on stress and inflammation in older adults.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Tactile stimulation reverses painful stimuli outcomes via PVN-VTA oxytocin circuitry and dopaminergic regulation.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Oxytocin Deficiency in Childhood and Adolescence: Clinical Features, Diagnostic Challenges and Therapeutic Perspectives.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Oxytocin research is rapidly evolving and increasingly reveals that epigenetic modifications to the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) are functional, plastic, and reliable components of oxytocinergic system function. This review outlines how OXTR epigenetics are shaped by the early life environment, impact social-developmental outcomes, and have strong potential to serve as therapeutic targets. We first establish the malleability of OXTR epigenetics in infancy in both animal models and humans through research demonstrating the impact of the early life environment on OXTR DNA methylation (OXTRm) and subsequent social behavior. Next, we detail how OXTRm serves as a predictive mechanism for neurodevelopmental outcomes in animal models of social behavior such as the prairie vole, and summarize the role of OXTRm in psychiatric disorders, emotional processing, and attachment behavior in humans. We discuss the potential of further OXTRm research to improve oxytocin therapeutics by highlighting how a deeper knowledge of OXTRm could improve the therapeutic potential of exogenous oxytocin, how OXTRm may impact additional cellular mechanisms with therapeutic potential including control of the perinatal GABA switch, and how early life therapies may target the tuning of endogenous OXTRm. Finally, we review limitations of previous oxytocin research and make recommendations for future research. IMPACT: Previous research into oxytocin therapeutics has been hampered by methodological difficulties that may be improved by assay of the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and its methylation (OXTRm) Key sites of OXTRm modification link early life exposures to developmental and behavioral outcomes OXTRm appears to have a critical period of development in early life Epigenetic modification of the oxytocin receptor gene could serve as a powerful target for therapeutic interventions.
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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.