Oxytocin in healthy relatives of frontotemporal dementia (Version 1)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Social cognition and empathy functioning in first-degree healthy relatives of frontotemporal dementia patients and its relation to physiological Oxytocin levels
IRAS ID
181871
Contact name
James Rowe
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
609/M/C/1398, Provisional Insurance
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 14 days
Research summary
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is a neurodegenerative disease with early pervasive deficits in empathy and social cognition. FTD is highly heritable, with approximately a third of patients carrying genetic mutations associated with FTD. Recent studies have detected subtle cognitive changes in healthy relatives of genetic FTD patients. However, such studies have focused solely on cognitive outcomes such as executive function and memory. No studies to date have investigated whether healthy relatives of FTD patients show deficits in social cognition and empathy compared to individuals with no family history of FTD.
The hormone Oxytocin is believed to be an important mediator of social behaviour, particularly empathy. Administration of Oxytocin via an intra-nasal spray has been shown to change pathophysiology of social cognition in disorders including autism, schizophrenia and depression. Intranasal Oxytocin has also shown weak but promising effects on symptoms in FTD. However, due to the extensive atrophy in neural regions important for Oxytocin in FTD, the effectiveness of Oxytocin may be reduced. As such, healthy family members of FTD patients showing subtle social deficits could better reveal mechanisms of social cognition and empathy functioning in the brain.
We propose to investigate this by first exploring social cognition and empathy functioning in healthy first-degree relatives of genetic FTD patients. Following this, we plan to increase levels of Oxytocin in these individuals via an intra-nasal spray to understand empathy changes in the brain.
We hypothesize that with increased Oxytocin over a 4-week period, participants will demonstrate altered social cognitive processes, such as (i) empathy, the understanding of emotional states in others; ii) social approaches or willingness to make contact with others, and (iii) bond formation, resulting in long-lasting attachments to others.
REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1224
Date of REC Opinion
1 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion