UCSF

Introduction

Mentalizing, the ability to infer other people's intentions and emotions, is commonly impaired in schizophrenia and may represent an endophenotype. The hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to improve mentalizing in men with schizophrenia, but its effects in women remain unclear. Given sex differences in the clinical manifestations of schizophrenia and oxytocin system function, this is an important gap to address.

Methods

We tested the effects of a single-dose oxytocin challenge (40 IU) on mentalizing task performance among 26 women with schizophrenia and 38 healthy control women using a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover design. We aimed to replicate our prior study of oxytocin effects on mentalizing in men with schizophrenia, using the same oxytocin administration procedures and performance-based assessments. We used mixed-effects models and equivalence testing as well as Bayesian hierarchical models to examine oxytocin effects.

Results

In contrast to our previous finding in a male sample, oxytocin did not improve mentalizing in this sample of women with schizophrenia. Exploratory analyses showed that higher anti-dopaminergic medication dosage was associated with a decreased response to oxytocin, consistent with previous findings in men.

Conclusion

These findings provide preliminary evidence that exogenous oxytocin administration may have sex-specific effects on mentalizing in schizophrenia. Inclusion of women in future clinical studies with larger samples is critical, as oxytocin effects observed in men may not extend to women with the disorder.