Natalie Ebner

The oxytocin (OT) system is involved in various aspects of social cognition and prosocial behavior. Specifically, OT has been examined in the context of social memory, emotion recognition, cooperation, trust, and bonding, and─though evidence is somewhat mixed─OT appears to benefit aspects of cognition and socioemotional functioning. However, most of the extant data on aging and OT is from animal research and human OT research has focused largely on young male adults. As such, though we know that various cognitive and socioemotional capacities change with age, we know little about whether changes in the OT system with age underlie age-related differences in cognition and socioemotional functioning. Also, effects of gender are still largely unaddressed in this field. Based on our Age-Related Genetic, Neurobiological, Sociobehavioral Model of Oxytocin (AGeNeS-OT model), we examine age-related changes in the OT system and effects of these alterations on cognition and socioemotional functioning, considering hormonal, neural, behavioral, and (epi)genetic data in young and older women and men. Our results suggest a role of peripheral levels of OT on adult attachment and cognitive function. In addition, findings from a single-dose intranasal intervention study propose an age-by-gender modulatory effect of OT on resting-state functional connectivity between amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex as well as on meta-mood. Furthermore, data from our 4-week intranasal OT intervention provide first evidence of amygdala, hippocampus, and putamen as key targets of OT’s neuroplastic potential on the human brain and suggest that chronic OT administration may constitute a potential treatment in counteracting cognitive decline in aging. Preliminary data also support a possible role of OT in chronic pain, and effects of OT administration on physical functioning in aging will be addressed. The talk concludes with a brief discussion of the broader translational potential of this line of research.