Investigators examining the biology of oxytocin in the context of psychopathology have measured levels of plasma and CSF oxytocin at baseline or after experimental manipulation, have assessed the effects of intranasal oxytocin administration on a range of behavioral or biological variables, and have examined relations between oxytocin peptide gene and OXTR polymorphisms and severity of psychiatric symptoms (see Heinrichs et al., 2009; Lee et al., 2009, for reviews). Because the nature of the relations among plasma and CSF oxytocin and oxytocin peptide and receptor genes is not well understood, it is not yet clear how the present findings can best be integrated with the results of these studies. Clearly integrating findings from these different approaches is critical to being able to elucidate the role of oxytocin in psychopathology and is a vital direction for future research.
