Severe traumatic experiences such as falling victim to assault, torture, or rape have
deleterious effects. Clinical manifestations include intrusions, avoidance behavior, and
hyperarousal, which are associated, at a circuit level, with hyperfunction of the amygdala
and hypofunction of prefrontal cortex (PFC) subregions. In up to 50 % of the cases,
resilience is not sufficient and trauma-exposed individuals develop posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). Oxytocin (OXT) is a hypothalamic peptide hormone that exerts anxiolytic
effects. Recent clinical trials provide preliminary evidence that post-trauma administration
of OXT could be effective as a preventive intervention for PTSD in a subsample of individuals
exhibiting early PTSD symptoms prior to the onset of the disorder. However, the underlying
neurobiological mechanisms are unclear. Therefore, the rationale of the present project is to
expose a sample of healthy participants to experimental trauma in order to explore the
circuit mechanisms by which OXT influences, and interferes with, traumatic experience.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be employed in order to elucidate the
long-term effects of intranasal OXT on trauma-induced intrusions, amygdala and PFC responses
during an emotional face matching task and resting state functional connectivity.