Table 2.
OT administration trials in postpartum women
| Year | Author | RCT | Sample | Dose (IU) | Min. to task | Stimuli/task | Neuroanatomic, psychophysiological and neuroendocrine response to OT (vs PL) | Psychological responses to OT (vs PL) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Gregory et al. | DBPLBS | 29 breastfeeding mothers and 30 NP controls | 24 | 30 | IAPS images (sexual, neutral, or infant) |
PP and NP: ↑ VTA (to infant and sexual images); ↔ NAc (to any image) |
---- |
| 2013 | Rupp et al. | IAPS images (sexual, neutral, crying infant, smiling infant) |
PP (vs NP) under PL: ↓ right AMY activation to all images; PP (vs NP) under OT: ↔ right AMY to all images |
PP (vs NP) under PL and OT: ↓ sexual arousal scores. ↓ arousal to infant images NP (vs PP) under OT: ↔ arousal to infant stimuli. |
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| 2014 | Rupp et al. | IAPS images (neutral and negative) |
PP and NP: ↔ cortisol PP (vs NP) under PL: ↓ rAMY to negative images NP (vs PP) under OT ↓ rAMY to negative images |
PP (vs NP) under PL: ↓ arousal to negative images; PP (vs NP) under OT: ↔ arousal to negative images |
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| 2013 | Mah et al. | DBPLWS | 25 mothers with PPD (infants 3–12 months) | 24 | 45 | Infant interaction session | ---- |
↓ mood ↑ ratings of their child as ‘difficult’ ↑quality of the mother-child relationship |
| 2015 | 24 | 55 | Enthusiastic stranger paradigm | ---- |
↑ maternal protectiveness of their child ↓gaze duration |
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| 2017 | 24 | 30–55 | Crying paradigm | ---- |
↑ perceiving infant cry as urgent ↑ harsh caregiving strategy upon infant cry ↔ maternal sensitivity |
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| 2015 | Clarici et al. | DBPLBS | 5 mothers with PPD - OT and 11 with PPD – PL |
16 daily |
---- | 12 weekly psychodynamic therapy sessions | ---- |
↔ depressive symptoms ↔ basic emotional traits (including attachment) ↓ self-centered in depressive presentation (therapist ratings) |
↑, increased; ↓, decreased; ↔, no effect/similar; ----, not applicable/unknown; CO, cross over; BS, between subjects; WS, within subjects; DB, double-blind; PP, postpartum; PPD, postpartum depression; NP, nulliparous; HC, healthy controls; PL, placebo; OT, oxytocin; VTA, ventral tegmental area; NAc, nucleus accumbens; AMY, amygdala