Abstract
The quantification of salivary oxytocin (OXT) concentrations emerges as a helpful tool to assess peripheral OXT secretion at baseline and after various challenges in healthy and clinical populations. Both positive social interactions and stress are known to induce OXT secretion, but the relative influence of either of these triggers is not well delineated. Choir singing is an activity known to improve mood and to induce feelings of social closeness, and may therefore be used to investigate the effects of positive social experiences on OXT system activity. We quantified mood and salivary OXT and cortisol (CORT) concentrations before, during, and after both choir and solo singing performed in a randomized order in the same participants (repeated measures). Happiness was increased, and worry and sadness as well as salivary CORT concentrations were reduced, after both choir and solo singing. Surprisingly, salivary OXT concentrations were significantly reduced after choir singing, but did not change in response to solo singing. Salivary OXT concentrations showed high intra-individual stability, whereas salivary CORT concentrations fluctuated between days within participants. The present data indicate that the social experience of choir singing does not induce peripheral OXT secretion, as indicated by unchanged salivary OXT levels. Rather, the reduction of stress/arousal experienced during choir singing may lead to an inhibition of peripheral OXT secretion. These data are important for the interpretation of future reports on salivary OXT concentrations, and emphasize the need to strictly control for stress/arousal when designing similar experiments.
Highlights
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been found to promote social affiliation and bond formation, to reduce anxiety, and to dampen the stress response in many mammalian species, including humans (Donaldson and Young, 2008; Lee et al, 2009; Neumann and Landgraf, 2012; Young, 2015)
Post hoc pair-wise comparisons showed that in the context of choir singing, salivary CORT concentrations decreased continuously over time and were lower at Basal 2 compared with Basal samples were collected min (Basal 1) (p = 0.001), at Singing 1 compared with both Basal 1 (p < 0.001) and Basal 2 (p = 0.001), at Singing 2 compared with Basal 1 and 2 (p < 0.001) and with Singing 1 (p = 0.036), and at Post compared with Basal 1 and 2 (p < 0.001)
The drop in salivary CORT concentrations was more gradual in the context of solo singing with lower levels at Singing 2 compared with Basal 1 (p = 0.004) and Basal 2 (p = 0.011), and at Post compared with Basal 1, Basal 2 and Singing 1 (p ≤ 0.001)
Summary
The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has been found to promote social affiliation and bond formation, to reduce anxiety, and to dampen the stress response in many mammalian species, including humans (Donaldson and Young, 2008; Lee et al, 2009; Neumann and Landgraf, 2012; Young, 2015). OXT concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples optimally reflect changes in central OXT neurotransmission responsible for socio-emotional functions (Jokinen et al, 2012; Kagerbauer et al, 2013; Carson et al, 2015). Changes in OXT concentrations in blood plasma and saliva may occur without any concomitant changes in central OXT neurotransmission, and vice versa. In this context it is of interest to note that a recent meta-analysis that included studies conducted in humans, non-human primates, sheep, rats, and mice confirmed that OXT concentrations in central fluids (CSF or extracellular fluid) correlated positively with OXT concentrations in blood plasma after experimentally induced stress, though not at baseline (Valstad et al, 2017)
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