Deciphering the role of the oxytocin system in mental traits and physical health

The hormone oxytocin has been associated with childbirth and breastfeeding for well over a century. However, more recent research has begun to reveal that oxytocin also influences our thoughts and feelings, particularly those related to social behavior. Considering that oxytocin levels in the brain can be increased with intranasal administration of the hormone, there has been considerable excitement when it comes to its potential to help treat psychiatric illnesses characterised by social dysfunction, such as schizophrenia. Moreover, other areas of research suggest that the oxytocin system is involved with appetite regulation and how our bodies store and use energy. But despite this recent research interest, researchers are yet to have a comprehensive understanding of this hormone system and how it influences our physical and mental health. To address this knowledge gap, this project will use a "big data" approach that will combine the analysis of behavioural, health, and genetic data. Through a series of analyses, this project will unravel how the function of the oxytocin system changes over the lifespan, how variations in the oxytocin genetic system are associated with health outcomes, and how the human oxytocin system evolved in the first place. To date, this project has generated a scientific article published in the journal 'Nature Human Behavior' describing the state-of-the-art of oxytocin research and proposals for improving future research in the field. Altogether, this project will provide a broader understanding of oxytocin's role in health, which will help guide scientists better grasp oxytocin's therapeutic potential.

Individuals with severe mental illness have significantly higher mortality rates than the general population, which is related to the increased risk of comorbid somatic conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. Growing evidence demonstrates the critical contribution of the neuropeptide oxytocin in the pathogenesis and maintenance of several psychiatric illnesses, due to its role in social behavior. Emerging data suggests that oxytocin signalling dysfunction may also contribute to this increased risk of somatic conditions. Harmonising the behavioural and physiological role of oxytocin signalling, Principal Investigator (PI) Quintana's recent work suggests that oxytocin signalling has a much broader role than supporting social behavior, with oxytocin signalling implicated in several other non-social cognitive states and metabolic regulation. While these findings are promising, a global understanding of oxytocin's role in health and wellbeing remains elusive, as research efforts tend to be siloed within subfields, and resource constraints limit sample sizes and multidisciplinary opportunities. Opportunely, the recent availability of datasets with unprecedented sample sizes and advances in methods provides an ideal juncture to more comprehensively understand oxytocin signalling. To address this critical knowledge gap and to exploit these recent advances, the OXYTOCINhealth project has the ambitious goal of generating models of the psychological and physiological relevance of the oxytocin signalling system. This will be achieved by adopting a novel big-data approach that will integrate mechanistic, developmental, phylogenetic, and evolutionary perspectives using behavioural, health, and multimodal genetic data. The unique interdisciplinary approach of OXYTOCINHealth, combined with PI Quintana's experience in oxytocin research and complementary expertise of the project team, yields an unprecedented opportunity to fully realise oxytocin's therapeutic potential.