Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40180973›Full record

Trial reportScientific reports2025

Intranasal oxytocin modulates brain activity during emotional processing in children with treatment resistant conduct problems.

Suzanne O' Brien, Arjun Sethi, James Blair, John Tully, Daniel Martins, Hester Velthuis, Marija M Petrinovic, Stephen Scott, Nigel Blackwood, Declan G M Murphy and 1 more

Abstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Imaging of intranasal drug delivery to the brain: updated review 2.0.Drug delivery and translational research · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Suzanne O' Brien *Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. suzanne.o'_brien@kcl.ac.uk.
Arjun Sethi *Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
James BlairResearch Unit at Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center Copenhagen, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
John TullyAcademic Unit of Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Institute of Mental Health, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Daniel MartinsDepartment of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, College London & NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, King's, South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, London, UK.
Hester VelthuisDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Marija M PetrinovicDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Stephen ScottDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Nigel BlackwoodDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Declan G M Murphy *Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Michael C Craig *Department of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.

Funding

Medical Research Council MR/M013588
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

One of the most highly replicated neural correlates of Conduct Problems (CP) is amygdala hypoactivity to another person's fear. We recently reported that this correlate was only observed in boys with persistent CP (i.e. antisocial behaviour that persisted following a gold-standard psychological intervention), suggesting that amygdala hypoactivity to fear could be an important neural signature for treatment-resistant CP, and a putative target for future treatments. Potential treatment candidates include the oxytocin system, as this has been reported to modulate amygdala activity and social behaviour across species. Further, in adults with antisocial personality disorder, intranasal oxytocin improved facial emotion recognition for fearful and happy faces. However, to-date, no-one has studied whether intranasal oxytocin can normalise neural processing differences in children with CP. Twenty boys (mean age 9.85±1.26 years) with persistent CP underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging in a within-subject randomised control design to investigate whether, compared to placebo, a single-dose of intranasal oxytocin could 'shift' abnormal neural processing to fear. Oxytocin failed to reduce amygdala hypoactivity to fearful faces, but increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex / precuneus to happy faces. These findings tentatively suggest that intranasal oxytocin may promote a more neurotypical profile in treatment-resistant CP children, therefore, supporting the merit of investigating oxytocin in further larger clinical studies in this population.

Indexed as

BrainConduct DisorderEmotionsOxytocinAdministration, IntranasalAmygdalaChildFacial ExpressionFacial RecognitionFearHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleOxytocin

Identifiers

PMID40180973
PMCPMC11968994

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.