Oxytocin is known to exert stress-bufferring effects, and this may be of relevance to its role in influencing stress-alcohol interactions. For example, oxytocin decreases stress-induced HPA axis activation and behavioral (anxiety) responses (Neumann et al., 2000; Windle et al., 1997). Systemic oxytocin treatment was also shown to temper stress-related increases in alcohol consumption (Peters et al., 2013). Finally, in a recent clinical study, Pedersen and colleagues demonstrated that intranasal oxytocin treatment attenuated alcohol withdrawal symptoms in treatment-seeking human subjects compared to placebo (Pedersen et al., 2013). Taken together, there is emerging evidence that oxytocin may hold promise as a therapeutic for treating alcohol use disorders and, in particular for mitigating stress effects on alcohol drinking and relapse.
