CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 127Neuroendocrine regulation and behaviorSchizophrenia research and treatmentPsychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending

Reduced levels of vasopressin and reduced behavioral modulation of oxytocin in psychotic disorders

Open access
Rubin, Leah H., Carter, C. Sue, Bishop, Jeffrey R., Pournajafi-Nazarloo, Hossein, Drogos, Lauren L., Hill, S. Kristian, Ruocco, Anthony C., Keedy, Sarah K. +6 more·2014·Schizophrenia Bulletin
DOI 10.1093/schbul/sbu027PMC PMC4193712
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Oxytocin (OT) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) exert robust influence on social affiliation and specific cognitive processes in healthy individuals. Abnormalities in these neuroendocrine systems have been observed in psychotic disorders, but their relation to impairments in behavioral domains that these endocrines modulate is not well understood. We compared abnormalities of OT and AVP serum concentrations in probands with schizophrenia (n = 57), schizoaffective disorder (n = 34), and psychotic bipolar disorder (n = 75); their first-degree relatives without a history of psychosis (n = 61, 43, 91, respectively); and healthy controls (n = 66) and examined their association with emotion processing and cognition. AVP levels were lower in schizophrenia (P = .002) and bipolar probands (P = .03) and in relatives of schizophrenia probands (P = .002) compared with controls. OT levels did not differ between groups. Familiality estimates were robust for OT (h(2) = 0.79, P = 3.97e-15) and AVP (h(2) = 0.78, P = 3.93e-11). Higher levels of OT were associated with better emotion recognition (β = 0.40, P < .001) and general neuropsychological function (β = 0.26, P = .04) in healthy controls as expected but not in any proband or relative group. In schizophrenia, higher OT levels were related to greater positive symptom severity. The dissociation of OT levels and behavioral function in all proband and relative groups suggests that risk and illness factors associated with psychotic disorders are not related to reduced OT levels but to a disruption in the ability of physiological levels of OT to modulate social cognition and neuropsychological function. Decreased AVP levels may be a marker of biological vulnerability in schizophrenia because alterations were seen in probands and relatives, and familiality was high.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/schbul/sbu027

Cites

81 of 81 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Many papers have used an ELISA on unextracted plasma and obtained oxytocin values above 300 pg/ml.

    “However, many papers have used an ELISA on unextracted plasma, yielding values of >300pg/ml (59)(60)(61)(62)(63)(64)(65).”

    From Intranasal Oxytocin: Myths and Delusions (2016) · cites this paper as [61]

    The Measures section (page unavailable) says this study used an enzyme immunoassay on unextracted plasma and reran oxytocin samples above 2,000 pg/ml, supporting the method and values above 300 pg/ml for this study. It does not establish that many papers used the method and obtained such values. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The manufacturer's advice to extract plasma has been largely ignored; many studies have used the Enzo assay on unextracted human plasma, reporting mean concentrations of oxytocin and vasopressin typically 100-500 pg/ml, and those that diluted samples did so by less than the manufacturer's recommendations without confirming that their dilution was adequate.

    “This advice has been largely ignored. Many studies have used this assay on unextracted human plasma, reporting mean concentrations of oxytocin and vasopressin of typically 100–500 pg/ml 3, 4, 5, 6, 114. Those that have diluted samples have done so by less than the manufacturer's recommendations, without confirming that their dilution is adequate.”

    From Measuring Oxytocin and Vasopressin: Bioassays, Immunoassays and Random Numbers (2016) · cites this paper as [6]

  • None of the four studies cited in the Introduction as examples of the use of ELISAs to measure oxytocin and vasopressin in unextracted samples made any correction for multiple comparisons in their analyses.

    “Indeed, none of the four studies cited in the Introduction 3, 4, 5, 6 as examples of the use of ELISAs to measure oxytocin and vasopressin in unextracted samples made any correction for multiple comparisons in their analyses.”

    From Measuring Oxytocin and Vasopressin: Bioassays, Immunoassays and Random Numbers (2016) · cites this paper as [6]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [76]76. Landgraf R, Neumann ID. Vasopressin and oxytocin release within the brain: a dynamic concept of multiple and variable modes of neuropeptide communication. Front Neuroendocrinol . 2004;25:150-176.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Rubin, L. H., Carter, C. S., Bishop, J. R., Pournajafi-Nazarloo, H., Drogos, L. L., Hill, S. K., Ruocco, A. C., Keedy, S. K., Reilly, J. L., Keshavan, M. S., Pearlson, G. D., Tamminga, C. A., Gershon, E. S., & Sweeney, J. A.
Affiliations
  • University of Illinois Chicago (US)
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
  • Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (US)
  • University of Toronto (CA)
  • University of Chicago (US)
  • Northwestern University (US)
  • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (US)
  • Yale University (US)
  • The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
Corresponding author
Rubin, Leah H.
ORCID
Venue
Schizophrenia Bulletin
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2014-03-11
Volume
40
Issue
6
Pages
1374-1384
ISSN
  • 0586-7614 (ISSN-L)
  • 1745-1701
DOI
10.1093/schbul/sbu027
PMC
PMC4193712
OpenAlex
W2164597099
Cited by
127
References
81
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 36 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
FWCI
20.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Schizophrenia Bulletin (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) (submittedVersion)
  • UNC Libraries
Funders
  • Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (MH078113, MH077851, K08MH083888, MH077852, MH083126, MH077945, MH077862, K12HD055892)
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Eli Lilly and Company
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • Sunovion
  • National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
  • Astellas Pharma
  • H. Lundbeck A/S
  • National Institutes of Health (UL1TR000430)
  • National Institute of Mental Health (K08MH083888, R01MH077852, R01MH103368, MH‐077945, MH 077852, R01MH077851, K23MH083126, MH-078113, MH083126, MH077851, R01MH096913, MH‐077862, R01MH078113, R01MH077862, R01MH077945)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K12HD055892)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
Keywords
oxytocin, vasopressin
MeSH terms
Adult, Affective Disorders, Psychotic, Arginine Vasopressin, Emotions, Facial Expression, Family, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Oxytocin, Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia, Social Perception

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review