Naval Special Warfare (NSW) operators are exposed to a variety of extreme environmental
conditions and intense physical demands. In addition to breathing high pressure gases at
depth, prolonged cold water immersion and inadequate recovery from sustained physical
exertion negatively impact individual and team performance. Biotechnologies that could
mitigate the effects of cold as well as support physical recovery represent a significant
unmet need for the NSW operational community.
Oxytocin (OT) has a wide range of actions both locally in the brain and peripherally in the
body including skeletal muscle. These peripheral effects can be mediated by classic
ligand-receptor activation given the abundant expression of the oxytocin receptor in
peripheral tissues, along with local expression of OT in peripheral tissues where it is
likely to act in an autocrine manner. Exogenous OT via intranasal administration is FDA
Investigational New Drug (IND)-approved and has been demonstrated as an easy and safe method
to increase circulating OT concentrations that may augment actions on peripheral tissues.
Due to the pleiotropic effects of OT on whole body metabolism, thermogenesis, stress
responses, pain, mood, inflammation, appetite, glycemic control, skeletal homeostasis, and
skeletal muscle repair and regeneration, there is increasing interest in the administration
of exogenous OT for benefits to human health, performance and resilience. However, the
biological mechanisms by which OT exerts tissue-specific effects (e.g., skeletal muscle)
remain poorly understood, particularly in humans. This project is designed to significantly
advance this understanding while testing the central hypothesis that intranasally
administered OT attenuates systemic and skeletal muscle oxidative stress and inflammation
induced by the combined stressor of resistance swim exercise and hyperoxia.
Phase:
Phase 2
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition
Collaborators:
Office of Naval Research (ONR) Translational Genomics Research Institute University of Alabama at Birmingham University of Florida