Effects of Intranasal Oxytocin on Cigarette Smoking
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2019-07-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Socioemotional processing dysfunctions (i.e., disruptions in affective, cognitive, and neural
processes that encode, interpret, and respond to socially and emotionally relevant stimuli)
have been implicated in tobacco smoking and relapse, however this potential target for
medication development has not been systematically examined. Evidence from animal and human
laboratories indicate that administration of intranasal oxytocin enhances socioemotional
processing and may be efficacious for the treatment of drug addiction, including nicotine
dependence. In order to evaluate the potential efficacy of intranasal oxytocin for smoking
cessation, this laboratory-based proposal will examine whether intranasal oxytocin attenuates
smoking lapse, nicotine withdrawal, and socioemotional processing disruptions in regular
smokers following overnight abstinence.